Courses – Master of Project Management

Based on the Needs of Multinational Corporations

The online master of project management degree is an interdisciplinary, 30-credit graduate program that uses problem-based learning to provide a thorough understanding of all aspects of project management theory and practice. It is designed to meet the needs of companies that are heavily engaged in large-scale projects. Penn State’s team of faculty, headed by Dr. Jeffrey K. Pinto, an internationally recognized scholar in the field of project management, has joined forces with distinguished, multinational firm Rolls-Royce and the University of Manchester to develop a world-class curriculum for companies that require the highest level of expertise in the management of projects.

The master’s degree curriculum allows you to tailor your course work to align with your personal career goals. You can choose 6 credits of electives in a relevant topical area, or complete a research project based on a current project management issue in your organization. The program is structured so that you interact with high-caliber classmates who work in a variety of industries, enabling you to learn from each other and keep those relationships after graduation.

Because the 12-credit Graduate Certificate in Project Management consists of the first four courses of the master’s program, you are able to add a quality credential to your résumé even before you complete the full degree. All students must begin with MANGT 510.

To view sample course syllabi and sample course lessons, view the Course Schedule page and click the schedule number for each course.

See course start and end periods, registration deadlines, and semesters offered. Course Schedule

Course List – Master of Project Management

Master of Project Management Core Courses (24 credits)

A problem-based, interdisciplinary course in project management skills and techniques needed to manage projects in a modern business environment.

Prerequisite: graduate standing

Cost and Value Management

A problem-based course that emphasizes project cost control and teaches students to apply techniques to control projects in business.

Prerequisite or concurrent: MANGT 510

Planning and Resource Management

A problem-based course that addresses techniques for planning the project development process, including securing resources and resource management.

Prerequisite or concurrent: MANGT 510

Commercial Law and Project Procurement

A problem-based course that addresses elements of commercial law and procurement practices and their implications for project management.

Listen to the Story

Payday lenders made about $49 billion in high-interest loans last year. More than a third of those loans were made online. I wondered what happens when you apply for such a loan, so I decided to find out.

In the course of reporting a story earlier this year, I logged on to a site called eTaxLoan.com and filled out an application.

I asked for $500 and, to be safe, I made up an address, a name (Mary) and a Social Security number. The site asked for more sensitive stuff — a bank account number and a routing number — and I made that up, too.

In spite of the made-up information, in less than a minute, I got a response.

“Congratulations. Tremont Lending has been selected as your lender and you have been pre-approved for a loan up to $750.”

If I wanted to borrow $750 for a week, I would have had to pay $225 in interest. The site said that was an annual percentage rate of more than 1,300 percent.

I did not agree to take the loan.

But within minutes, my phone rang (I had entered my real phone number). It was a guy from Tremont Lending, in South Dakota. I told him I was a reporter, that I didn’t really want a loan, and I figured that would be the end of it. But then, I started to get more calls.

“Hi, Mary. My name is Ethan, Ethan Foster, and I’m calling from InstaLoan. And this call is regarding the loan application which you put online. It has been successfully approved by our company as a personal loan.”

And:

“This message is intended for Mary Kettler. Mary, the very second you receive this message, I need your urgent attention to return the call. My name is Tom Watson.”

For months, I got dozens of calls. Many of the callers had strong foreign accents. One caller, who said his name was Kevin, told me that Mary had been approved for a loan of up to $5,000 — 10 times what I initially asked for.

Kevin said he was from a company called Cash 4 You, which was unconnected to eTaxLoan.com. By this point, I was wholly confused. ETaxLoan had said it was a secure site, but now, many different companies had my application — and, presumably, my personal information.

It turns out there’s a huge online bidding process for such loans. ETaxLoan isn’t a lender at all, but something called a lead generator. It finds potential customers, then passes them on.

When I tried to contact eTaxLoan to learn more, I might as well have been looking for the holy grail. The company’s customer service line connected to a recording that said “due to an overwhelming response to great loans,” it could not take calls. The site lists an address in Delaware — but the company isn’t at that address. I spent days trying to find the company’s physical location, without success.

And when I tried to call back the people who had offered me loans, I couldn’t get through.

But eventually, I did find someone willing to talk about the business. Jack Murray heads Fix Media Group, in Virginia, which has a site called wefixmoney.com. Murray says his company — not unlike eTaxLoan — is really a marketing firm.

“We are a matching service, just like an Expedia is for a travel company or a Hotels.com is for a hotel company,” Murray says.

But instead of matching travelers with hotels, Murray matches those who need cash — and can’t get it elsewhere — with those willing to lend.

For that, he might get anywhere from $1 to $100 per lead. Murray draws a big distinction between his company and others in the business. He says he’s completely aboveboard and works only with partners he trusts.

“We have a pretty limited network of lenders, and we know what each of our lenders is looking for,” he says. “So whether it’s a certain state or other qualifications or characteristics of the customer, it will match the appropriate lender based on those things.”

Murray says neither he nor his lenders resells personal data, like the kind I submitted. But he says that others do, and that’s likely what happened in my case. It doesn’t take long online to discover there’s a whole network of people trying to buy and sell payday loan leads.

None of this surprises Benjamin Lawsky, the superintendent of financial services for New York state and one of many regulators trying to clamp down on payday lending.

“Once you made that application, you basically sent up a red flag with them that you are someone in need of this money, and you need it on a short-term basis,” he told me. “That’s when the vultures come out.”

T his article is aimed at clearing doubts over how a bank calculates your net income while calculating the eligibility for total home loan amount. Normally, all banks provide home loans up to 60 times your monthly net income.

You have a monthly in-hand (take home) salary as Rs 50,000 and you are looking for a home loan of about Rs 30 lakh.

Your gross monthly income might be much more than Rs 50,000 per month but that does not matter while calculating the net income.

You don’t have any other loan like car or personal loan on your name.

Bank rules say that you are eligible to get 60 times your monthly net income as loan.

Well, all sounds good till the time you are talking to your bank executive or an agent over phone for your eligibility. They ask you for your net income, you answer Rs 50,000 per month and they immediately say that you are eligible for a loan that is 60 times your monthly net income, that is, Rs 30 lakh. You are excited that everything is going as per your expectations and think you will get the amount you were looking for.

Micro-Loan Ministry

Micro-loans are a proven means of helping the poorest of the world’s poor rise from poverty with dignity.

Micro-Loan Ministry

People who start businesses must have some capital to begin, and so most need a business loan. But what if you were so poor that you had zero collateral and no banks would give you a loan? Such is the plight of many of the world’s poor, including millions of honest and hard working followers of Jesus. Banks won’t even lend them $200. Shouldn’t their faith in Jesus, however, and a consistent testimony be enough collateral for fellow believers, like us, to trust them with a $200 loan?

Dina Zotica Diaz de Arnao is a Peruvian Christian woman who has benefitted with a micro-loan. She already has a small store in the front room of her little house, but her inventory is extremely limited. Along with the small income that her husband earns from scavenging and selling recyclables, they are just scraping by. Dina was overjoyed to receive a one-year loan of $200 that will enable her to significantly expand her inventory. Her pastor, Jose’ Ernesto Castillo Medrano, has faith in her, and he is administrating her loan.

The other Christian women in Peru who received micro-loans from Heaven’s Family also have small businesses that they are now expanding with our help. When their loans are repaid, the funds will be loaned to other hard-working believers. Micro-loans are a proven means of helping the poorest of the world’s poor rise from poverty with dignity.

Donations to the Micro-Loan Ministry are used for program expenses related to making small business loans primarily to poor Christians who have a reputation of being hard-working and honest in restricted and impoverished nations. Our micro-bankers who are committed believers of Jesus Christ will occasionally extend loans to non-belivers to support their local ministry outreach. All fundraising and general/management expenses are paid from from the general fund of Heaven’s Family. Our micro-loans are generally administrated by the borrower’s pastor who is paid for administrating the loans by means of the interest earned.

FAQ

What is a cash advance loan or payday loan?

A cash advance loan is an unsecured loan that will help you get through to your next payday. The loan is unsecured, so you will not need collateral. You can use a payday loan to help take care of unexpected expenses such as car repairs or emergency medical bills, or pay that phone bill on time to prevent disconnection. You can apply online using our application and the money is instantly deposited to your savings or checking account.

Why do I need a payday loan?

Expenses sometimes come up before payday that need immediate attention or else there will be consequences. You can pay your cable bill on time and avoid bouncing a check or paying a late fee.

How much money do you loan?

Your loan amount depends on your employment information. We can loan up to $1,500 to first-time borrowers.

How do you determine the fees?

We abide strictly by state and federal laws for establishing our loan fees. As per the applicable laws, our fees can range anywhere from $25 to $30 for every $100 you borrow.

What are the requirements to qualify for a loan?

There are no credit checks for our payday loans, but you do need to meet the following requirements:

An active savings or checking account

Be a citizen of the U.S. and be at least 18 years of age

Have a verifiable income of at least $1,000 per month

You must be employed

How do I apply?

We have a simple online application process you will find on our website. You will know instantly if you are approved or not.

How do I complete the application?

In order to have your application considered you need to provide your name, address, information about your employer, bank account information and one form of picture identification.

Will my personal information be safe with your application process?

Absolutely! We use state-of-the-art 128-bit computer encryption and secured web pages to protect all of your personal information. The safety of your information is as important to us as it is to you!

What does it cost to apply?

Nothing!

Do I have to take a loan if I am approved?

No. You will be notified immediately in regards to your approval. At that point you are welcome to contact us to ask questions and give it some thought. When you are ready to proceed, you simply follow the acceptance process.

Do I need good credit?

We do not perform a credit check, so your credit history does not affect your ability to qualify for a payday loan with us.

Do I need to own a home to qualify?

Renters and homeowners can qualify for a payday loan. It makes no difference to us!

How do I fax you my information?

We gather all of your personal information online based on the data you give us. There is no need for you to fax us anything.

Can I have multiple payday loans going at the same time?

No. You must pay off an existing payday loan before you can be approved for another.

Do you call my past or present employers?

No. Your application status is completely confidential and we consult with no one to determine your eligibility.

Is direct deposit necessary to qualify?

For your security, we only send money through direct deposit to your bank account.

How fast will I get my money?

Your application will be processed in less than an hour after we receive it. Once you accept the terms of the loan, the money will be available the next business day. After you have received your money, we will begin discussing repayment terms with you that fits your budget and schedule.

Will I be notified when my money is available?

We will notify you by email when you are approved. We reserve the right to alter the loan agreement up until the time you receive your funds if new information regarding your application is presented.

When will I have to pay the money back?

Repayment terms vary depending on your state and local laws. We generally try to reschedule payment on your next payday, or within 8 to 25 days from receipt of payment.

Can I pay back my loan early?

Paying your loan back prior to the scheduled due date may entitle you to a refund of some of your loan fees. Contact us if you intend on paying back your loan early to see how you can benefit.

What if I can’t pay my loan back on time?

A loan extension may be available if you cannot pay back on time. We offer options for repayment including:

Pay the loan back as agreed to in your documents

Pay back a portion of the principle and all of the finance charges prior to the due date

Pay just the loan fees on the due date

Am I limited to how many times I can get a payday loan?

We want to help our customers with their short-term bill paying needs. If you are finding yourself in need of payday loans on a consistent basis, then you may be experiencing a more serious budgeting issue. We recommend using these loans only in emergency situations. Consult a financial expert if budgeting problems persist.

Disaster Loan Applications

If you are in a declared disaster area and have suffered any disaster related damage you may be eligible for federal disaster assistance. Homeowners and Renters must register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to obtain a FEMA Registration ID Number by calling 1-800-621-3362. You can apply for a disaster loan online.

SBA Disaster Home Loan Application (paper forms)

SBA Form 413 Personal Financial Statement . Download, print form and complete or complete version online and print.

IRS Form 4506-T . Download, Print form and complete or complete version online and print. Please see instructions.

SBA Form 2202 Schedule of Liabilities . Print form and complete. This is a suggested format for the Schedule of Liabilities. The information contained in this schedule is a supplement to your balance sheet and should balance to the liabilities presented on that form. If you need assistance please see instructions.

SBA Form 2202 Schedule of Liabilities instructions . Follow examples 1 through 8 for requested information. You may use your own form if you prefer. Any format is acceptable as long as it includes the information included in the instructions.

All required documents listed in Filing Requirements must be returned. All forms requiring signature must be signed and dated. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Advantage Loans

SBA guarantees three types of 7(a) business loans known as Advantage Loans. These are the Small/Rural Lender Advantage Loan . the Community Advantage Loan and the Small Loan Advantage .

The loan provided to the business is the equivalent of a Basic 7(a) Loan—not revolving—allowing the proceeds to be used for regular purposes. What differentiates a Basic 7(a) Advantage Loan from a Basic 7(a) loan is which lenders can get a guarantee. Another difference is the amount of underwriting some lenders must conduct before providing a guarantee. The principal difference is tied to the lender who provides the loan, rather than the structure and purpose of the loan. The Advantage Programs allows selected lenders to obtain 7(a) guarantees on loans they propose to provide to eligible and creditworthy small businesses that meet all the requirements of a Basic 7(a) Loan through an alternative application process.

All the Special Purpose Loan Programs listed above have certain requirements (such as what collateral must be obtained and how the repayment structure of principal and interest) that the SBA imposes on the lender and/or that the lender must impose on the borrower.

These programs also impose certain requirements on the lender for underwriting and closing the loan.

Australia’s Best Home Loans

The global economic downturn has created the lowest interest rates in nearly 50 years. But which home loan reigned supreme in the 17th Annual Your Mortgage Magazine s Mortgage of the Year Awards?

Welcome to the 2009 Your Mortgage Magazine Mortgage of the Year Awards. It seems we say this every year, but in the last 12 months a veritable revolution has taken place in the Australian home loan market.

When we last took a survey for the Mortgage of the Year Awards, bank standard variable rates were around 9.46% their highest level since early 2000.

But then rates started dropping, thanks to the worsening global economy. Since September 2008, the Reserve Bank of Australia slashed the official cash rate by 4%. This brought the standard variable rate down to 5.82% as some banks chose not to pass on the full rate cut.

The non-banks realised that they were in danger of losing their hard-earned market share to the banks, unless they rolled up their sleeves and started to compete aggressively on the thing that matters most to customers the price.

So between some assertive marketing from all the lenders and some encouragement for a sluggish economy from the Reserve Bank of Australia, rates have now been forced down to their lowest level in nearly five decades.

Competition still king

Like the previous Mortgage of the Year Awards, the results are strikingly close.

This is great news for borrowers, as this competitiveness will no doubt continue in the future.

While interest rates appear to have stalled for the moment, some experts are predicting the cycle has bottomed out and interest rates could rise as quickly as they dropped.

In the meantime, property prices continue to plateau and fall in some areas around the country. Again, this is good news for buyers!

All told, borrowers are in an enviable position to begin on the path to home ownership. They enjoy great home loan products and low interest rates.

Buying a home is never easy, but we hope these Awards will make choosing the best loan for you an easier and more enjoyable experience.

Over the following pages we are proud to present to you Australia s top mortgage products to help you finance your dream home or investment property. We looked at every aspect of the loans in order to impartially judge the best loans for new homebuyers, second homebuyers and first-time investors. About 1,000 mortgage products in our database have been carefully vetted using a wide-range of criteria to ensure you are getting the best value home loan.

FHA Loan Requirements

What are the current requirements for FHA Loans?

FHA loan requirements are written to very straightforward and simple to follow. You will find some of the most useful information about today’s FHA loan guidelines including income, credit and property requirements listed below.

To decide if you meet current FHA home Loan requirements for approval, lenders will look at:

Your monthly income and your current monthly expenses. Standard FHA loan requirement debt-to-income ratios are 31/43. These ratios may be exceeded with compensation factors.

Your credit history (standard FHA loan requirements for credit score are more flexible than other programs). A 620 FICO credit score is often required to obtain an FHA approval.

To determine if the home meets FHA requirements for loan approval, an appraisal must be performed by a certified FHA appraiser. Only the lending institution may initiate the order for an appraisal to determine that the subject property meets FHA loan inspection requirements.

FHA Debt to Income Ratio Requirements

Currently, FHA loans requirements state that your monthly housing costs (mortgage principal and interest, property taxes and insurance) must meet a specified percentage of your gross monthly income (31% ratio). You must also have enough income to pay your housing costs plus all additional monthly debt (43% ratio). These percentages may be exceeded with compensating factors.

FHA Loan Credit Score Requirements

Your credit background will be fairly considered. While the official FHA loan requirements for credit score states that the minimum FICO score for FHA loans is 580 for LTV ratios over 90 percent and 500 for LTV ratios below 90 percent, most lenders today will not approve mortgage loans to borrowers with credit scores below 620. It is possible for a borrower to be approved for an FHA Loan after bankruptcy, provided that the bankruptcy is at least two years out of discharge if Chapter 7 or one year out of discharge if Chapter 13 and all court ordered payments have been made on time.

FHA Loan Appraisal Requirements

For the subject property to be eligible for FHA loan approval, it must first be appraised by a certified FHA appraise r. FHA loan property requirements for appraisals state that the home must be in fairly good condition. Things that could disqualify the subject property include a leaky roof, structural problems and/or damage, missing siding or paint and other issues. The appraiser must determine if the appraised value of the home meets or exceeds the maximum Loan-to-Value requirements for FHA mortgage loans. If the appraised value comes in below those requirements, the borrower could have to bring more money to the closing table.

Additional requirements for FHA Loans

Additionally, to meet current FHA loan eligibility requirements you must:

Have a valid US Social Security Number (SSN)

Be a legal U.S. resident Be at or above the legal age to sign on a mortgage per state law. There is no maximum age limit for a borrower.

Even if you are not a U.S. citizen, you must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN). A Tax ID number (ITIN) does not qualify as an acceptable substitute for a SSN.

FHA Loan Limits and Down Payment Requirements

The maximum FHA loan amount: FHA approved lending institutions can not insure loans higher than the specified amounts listed for the metropolitan area or county where the property is located. The highest maximum FHA mortgage right now is $729,750. The lowest FHA maximum mortgage loan amount in any area is $271,050. To see what the limit is in the county in which you’re interested, visit the following site https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm . This site lists U.S. territories as well as states.

Maximum FHA Financing: Depending on the state where the property is located, FHA Loan Requirements state that the maximum Loan-to-Value financing will be 96.5% of the lower of the purchase price or the appraised value of a home being purchased or 97.75% of the lower of the appraised value of the home or the amount you are refinancing plus closing costs of a home being refinanced. If you are refinancing and taking cash out . the loan will be limited to 85% of the appraised value.

Arizona s #1 Hard Money Private Money Lender Since 1992

LOAN RATES STARTING AT 8%

1-10 Year Terms!

Low Fees!

No Prepayment Penalties!

Kenwood Mortgage is one of the oldest and most respected hard money lenders in Arizona. We fund all types of investment real estate including residential, commercial, multi-family, and land. Our loans range in size from $50,000 to $25,000,000 with rate and fee structures that are considered among the most reasonable in the marketplace.

All loans are underwritten by principal decision makers which ensures speed, privacy, and a minimum of red tape. Most loans close in less than a week with little more than a simple application and credit report. If the property qualifies and the loan makes sense for the borrower, we ll be prepared to close right away.

(480) 783-8800

Kenwood Mortgage Investments addresses the question:

Hard money lender or private money lender?

The history of our industry includes endless esoteric debate over wether to call itself private money or hard money lending. If you do an online search of both terms you’ll discover there is no single definition for either. Take a look at any private lender or hard money lender website and you’ll likely find both terms used interchangeably and frequently, but it’s not because they are confused. It’s all about ranking with the search engines and since the battle for business is now fought on the internet no one wants to leave to chance that all pistons aren’t firing. When the phone rings the borrower could be asking for either hard or private money and it makes no sense to argue with a good loan opportunity. “Are you guys private money or hard money?” My stock answer: “Absolutely. now tell me what you’re trying to accomplish so that we can craft an exacting loan to fit your needs.”

However, truth be told, given the opportunity to introduce myself where there are no preconceived notions about my business, I do prefer to say I am an Arizona private money lender. After all, “Private” leaves less to the imagination than “Hard”, don’t you think?

Kenwood Mortgage Investments is an Arizona private money lender, and yes, we are also an Arizona hard money lender. Call us anything you like, so long as you call us when you need a fast funding without unnecessary personal intrusion or bank underwriting neurosis.

We fund loan amounts of $50,000 to $25,000,000 usually within 24-48 hours of receiving a preliminary title report and are regarded by the industry as a lower rate/longer term alternative to typical terms offered by our competitors. Kenwood makes loans on the following property types:

U.S. Department of Education Loan Payment

Currently, a number of American students are taking out both loans federal and private loans in order to cover the cost of their education. Notably, federal loans have many further categories and are disbursed by the U.S. Department of Education. Of course, students should understand the U.S. Department of Education loan payment procedures in detail even before applying for the loan so that they can plan accordingly.

Know Your Loan Servicer

After the U.S. Department of Education loan payment is made to students, each student is assigned to a loan servicer who is responsible for collecting payment from the students once the repayment time starts. If you do not know who your loan servicer is, then you may contact the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). where you can find out information about your loans and loan servicers after you provide your FSA ID. You can also learn about your U.S. Department of Education loan payment deadlines and repayment plan.

Choose the Right Repayment Plan

When you are exploring options for your U.S. Department of Education student loan payment plan, make sure that it is realistic and practical. Repayment time spans and total amounts you have to pay vary with each plan.

Drowning in student loan debt? Here s help

Gan Golan, of Los Angeles, dressed as the Master of Degrees, holds a ball and chain representing his college loan debt. Jacquelyn Martin / AP

As college students start the fall semester, millions of graduates (and drop-outs) struggle to pay off a mountain of student loan debt – more than $1 trillion dollars, according to the Student Loan Debt Clock. That’s more than all the credit card debt Americans owe.

College seniors who graduated with student loans in 2010 owed an average of $25,250, according to the latest data from The Project on Student Debt. That’s up five percent from 2009.

And these days, a college degree doesn’t guarantee employment, let alone a good-paying job.

“You don’t realize the seriousness of paying back that loan until you finish school,” said Langdon Bueschel of Seattle, who needed financial aid to attend the University of Washington.

When he graduated in 2008, Bueschel had a degree in English and $12,000 in student loan debt. He has a job designing online advertising, but most of his money goes to living expenses. Because he missed so many payments, his balance now stands at $18,000 and counting.

“I could have been more responsible and paid more quickly,” he admitted, “but sometimes things come up.”

The most recent report from the U.S. Department of Education found that more than 320,000 borrowers had defaulted on their student loans as of September 2010. That is, they were 360 days or more late in making their payments.

Can’t handle your student loan payments?

You may have options and there’s an easy way to find them. The Student Debt Repayment Assistant on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) website can help students – and their families – figure out the best repayment options and what to do if they’re behind in their payments.

“You just answer a few questions and we’ll be able to point you to the best repayment program or action you should take in order to best manage your debt,” said CFPB student loan ombudsman Rohit Chopra.

First, you need to know what type of loans you have – government, private or both – because the remedies are different. Not sure? The Student Debt Repayment Assistant has a link to the National Student Loan database where you can find out.

“We can lead you in the right direction for the income-based repayment program on federal loans and we can tell you how you might negotiate with your private student lender,” Chopra explained. “Let’s say you’ve fallen behind like so many people have, we can even tell you about ways to negotiate with debt collectors and maybe even get your credit report fixed so you can get back on track.”

Of course, nothing’s guaranteed. But your chances of modifying the repayment terms are fairly good with a student loan from the federal government. Private lenders are generally not as willing to help. Still, it’s worth a try.

“Options vary by lender, but many private student loan programs offer borrowers a partial forbearance during which the borrower makes interest-only payments for a short period of time until the borrower can get back up on his or her feet,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and Fastweb.com. “This keeps the loan balance from growing bigger and digging the borrower into a deeper hole.”

Kantrowitz points out that some private lenders may make reductions in the loan balance or interest rate when the hardship is of a more permanent nature and they know they are unlikely to recover the full amount owed.

Remember: it is virtually impossible to discharge any type of student loans in bankruptcy. This obligation stays with you forever.

Low Monthly Payments Include Principal Interest

What is a car title loan?

It is a fast and easy way to get cash against your Clear Texas title.

How is the loan amount determined?

The loan amount is determined by the lender s criteria based on income and the year, make, model, mileage and value of the vehicle. To get an estimate of how much you can get, call us with your vehicle information.

When do I receive funds from my loan?

Funds are available as soon as you are approved and the loan process is completed.

How much time does it take to get approved?

Once your application has been submitted, approval can be obtained within minutes. All you have to do is bring the required paperwork below, fill out the application and once approved, you will complete the loan process and receive your check right away. The whole process from submitting your application to approval and getting your check takes approximately 30 minutes.

What paperwork is required?

Your ID

Social Security Card

Most recent paycheck stub less than 30 days old.

Any utility bill under your name less than 30 days old.

Auto insurance

Vehicle title

Spare key

5 references (family, friends, or co-workers)

car (for inspection and appraisal)

What if the car is in my name but my spouse is the one with the income?

That is not a problem. We can put both of you on the loan as you own the vehicle, but you will be using your spouses income to payoff the loan.

Yes you can apply online. However once approved, you will need to come to one of our convenient locations with the required paperwork to complete the loan process.

Will my employer or references be contacted?

Yes. Since there is no credit check, employment and references are verified but the purpose of the call is not disclosed because we respect your privacy.

Does it matter if I have bad or poor credit?

No. There is no credit check, however information on the application is verified.

What if I have filed bankruptcy or had repossessions?

It does not matter because we are here to help people obtain credit who have had difficulty in obtaining credit in the past because of their credit history. However, your bankruptcy must be discharged of at least 6 months.

What is the interest rate?

Lender charges interest rate of 10% for the auto title loans.

How are the payments set up?

Payments are made on a monthly basis just like a car note. You are required to make at least the monthly installment due and any additional payments made in any increment is credited to your account.

How are my monthly payments applied?

THESE ARE INSTALLMENT LOANS. Portions of your monthly payment goes to principal and a portion of it goes to interest. If you make your monthly installment payments every month when due, your loan will be paid off at the end of the contract term. THESE LOANS ARE NOT INTEREST ONLY LOANS.

How many months can I take to payoff the loan?

Depending on the loan amount, you can take up to 24 months to pay off the loan.

Is there any prepayment penalty?

No, there is no prepayment penalty.

Can I renew or refinance my loan to get additional cash?

In some cases you may be eligible to renew or refinance to get additional cash. If you wish to get additional cash, please email us at loans(at)advantagefinancellc.com. or call 281-410-5337 to see if you qualify. Your payment history along with other factors will determine the result of your request.

USDA s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program

What is the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program? And how much money is available through the program?

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP) is a new loan program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS). Prior to the implementation of the EECLP, there had not been a USDA loan program dedicated to supporting energy efficiency programs and improvements.

The stated goals of the EECLP are as follows:

Increasing energy efficiency at the end user level

Modifying electricity load such that there is a reduction in overall system demand

Effecting a more efficient use of existing electric distribution, transmission and generating facilities

Attracting new businesses and creating jobs in rural communities by investing in energy efficiency

Encouraging the use of renewable energy fuels for either Demand Side Management or the reduction of conventional fossil fuel use within the service territory

For Fiscal Year 2014 the first year for the program USDA’s Rural Utility Service has authorized $250 million in funding for the EECLP. However, RUS expects funding levels to increase over the life of the program. Further, it is anticipated that RUS will approve 20 loans in the first year. Applications may be submitted beginning February 2014.

Through the EECLP program, the Rural Utility Service makes direct loans to electric cooperatives (“coops”) and other rural electricity providers. The electricity provider can re-loan the funds to their residential and commercial customers in order for those customers to make energy efficiency improvements. Under some programs, known as on-bill financing. the customer would then repay the loan through their monthly electric bill.

Eligible activities directly benefitting residential customers that may be funded through the EECLP include, but are not limited to:

Energy efficiency measures implemented on the premise (property) of an electricity customer

Energy audits of a residence

Consumer education and outreach programs

On- and off-grid renewable energy systems.

What are the benefits of the EECLP?

There are many benefits to increasing the efficiency of energy use and to any program that helps fund improvements in energy efficiency. Environmentally, energy efficiency results in reductions in greenhouse gases and other pollutants associated with electricity production.

Economically, the benefits include:

Reduced electricity costs for residents and businesses, which results in more money being made available for spending in local communities

Greater demand for local energy services, and therefore local jobs, including home weatherization, duct repair, insulation and appliance repairs and upgrades, among others

The attraction of new businesses to rural communities

More specifically, the EECLP helps provide funding that both electric coops and their customers need in order to fund energy efficiency at the customer level. In many cases, neither the coop or the customer has the money necessary to pay for significant efficiency improvements. The EECLP offers the potential to remove that upfront barrier.

As a residential customer, how can I make sure my coop (or other rural electricity provider) takes advantage of the EECLP and helps me reduce my energy costs?

While some electric coops have been eagerly awaiting the release of the EECLP in order to enhance or create energy efficiency programs that they can offer to their customers, other coops may not even be considering applying for an EECLP loan. The best thing you can do as a customer and as a partial owner of your coop is to contact your coop and express your desire for a home energy efficiency loan program. Mention the EECLP as a possible source of funding your coop can use to develop a comprehensive home energy loan program. Also tell your neighbors and others in your community to do the same.

To help you in this, Appalachian Voices has developed an Energy Savings Action Center, which is an online tool that you can use to learn about any energy efficiency programs or incentives your coop currently offers, and to contact your coop to request a home energy efficiency loan program. [Visit the energy Savings Action Center ]

Mom-And-Pop Loan Sharks Being Driven Out By Big Credit-Card Companies

PHILADELPHIA Frankie “The Gorilla” Pistone leans wistfully on his bat. Then, without warning, he picks it up, swinging it furiously toward his deadbeat client’s leg. Just before the Louisville Slugger makes contact with the man’s kneecap, he pulls back, as only a real pro can, leaving the $250-in-the-hole man gasping in fear and relief. “Just get it to me by tomorrow, because next time, I ain’t gonna let up,” Pistone says.

Loan shark Frankie Pistone, whose way of life is endangered by the likes of American Express.

As the thankful man scurries off, Pistone pulls the cigarette out of his mouth and drops it to the ground. “I’m going to miss this,” he says.

Frank Pistone is part of the dying breed known as the American Loan Shark. Not so long ago, the loan shark flourished, offering short-term, high-interest loans to desperate people with nowhere else to turn. Today, however, Pistone and countless others like him are being squeezed out by the major credit-card companies, which can offer money to the down-and-out at lower rates of interest and without the threat of bodily harm.

“It’s a damn shame,” said Joseph Stasi, 61, a South Philadelphia loan shark whose business is down 90 percent from its mid-’70s heyday. “These days, there’s just no place for the small businessman. My kind, we just can’t compete with the Visas and MasterCards of the world.”

“The old customers don’t come ’round here no more,” said Felix Costa, 59, speaking from the Elizabeth, NJ, pool hall that has served as his place of business since 1972. “Time was, a guy who needed a quick $400 for a new refrigerator or some car repairs would come straight to me. Now, he just puts it on his Discover card.”

Though their client lists are dwindling, the loan sharks still have their champions.

“Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the loan sharks to the credit-card companies,” said Gene Hobson of Detroit. “When I borrow money from Three Knuckles Benny, I know there’s going to be a personal touch, whether it’s a dead animal on my doorstep or one of my kids coming home with a missing toe. The credit cards just don’t give you that sort of individualized attention. And, if you’re late with them, it’s a form letter and maybe maybe an irate call from the accounts-receivable department.”

“With our overhead, we need to charge a 50 percent weekly interest rate just to break even,” said a Chicago loan shark who identified himself only as “Johnny Toothpick.” “We’ve got rent, pay-offs, and switchblade maintenance, not to mention travel expenses. How can we compete with rates as low as 18 to 26 percent a year?”

Continued Toothpick: “These [credit-card companies] are monsters. They care nothing about the damage they’re doing to the American landscape by driving us out. Loan sharking was about more than giving people money and roughing them up when they didn’t come through. It was about ruffling a kid’s hair on the street, helping out a local fella who needed a break, and occasionally letting somebody off easy with just a couple of punches to the gut instead of a glass-filled sock to the face. It’s a unique part of our shared national experience that, once extinct, will never come back.”

With nearly 200,000 new credit-card solicitations going out every week, the loan sharks have little hope of regaining the ground they’ve lost.

“We were going by word of mouth, and we did pretty good around the neighborhood,” Pistone said. “But these credit cards? With direct mail and the Internet, they reach a customer base we can only dream about. In this business climate, how can a small, independent goon possibly compete?”

LOAN PROGRAMS

These are conventional loans that follow the terms and conditions established by the guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Conforming loans are equal to or less than the dollar amount established by the conforming loan limit set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s and meets their funding criteria.

VA Loans are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Service persons and veterans can qualify for a VA Loan, which usually offers a competitive fixed interest rate, no down payment and limited closing costs. While the VA does not issue the loans, it does issue a certificate of eligibility required to apply for a VA loan.

The FHA is a federal government agency within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

FHA plays a significant role in helping low- to moderate-income families qualify for mortgages. FHA assists first-time buyers and others who would not qualify for a conventional loan, by providing mortgage insurance to private lenders. Interest rates for an FHA loan are usually the going market rate, while the down payment requirements for an FHA loan are lower than conventional loans. The required down payment can be as low as 3.5 percent and the closing costs can be included in the mortgage amount. The FHA isn’t a lender and doesn’t directly make home loans. Instead, the FHA insures home loans against the borrower’s default to encourage lenders to offer the loans to home buyers and homeowners at more affordable interest rates.

FHA Streamline

The FHA has a special program that can help you refinance your FHA loan through a streamline process that’s easier than the typical refinancing.

Here’s a summary of what an FHA streamline refinance is, what the advantages of an FHA streamline refinance are, how an FHA streamline refinance works and what the requirements are.

FHA Refinance Loan Streamline Process

It’s important to remember that “streamline” doesn’t mean you can refinance your FHA loan without any closing costs. Instead, “streamline” refers only to the process, which involves less documentation and other requirements than a typical mortgage refinance does. For example, an FHA streamline refinance loan might not require an appraisal. That’s a major advantage if you want to refinance but believe your home has declined in value.

Though the streamline refinance isn’t cost-free, your lender may allow you to finance the closing costs through a slightly higher interest rate on your new loan. That means you won’t have to pay a lot of cash out-of-pocket to streamline refinance your existing FHA-insured mortgage. Instead, you’ll pay a higher interest rate and your FHA lender will pick up the tab for the closing costs of your streamline refinance. If you refinance into an FHA loan with a lower interest rate, you’ll still save money on your monthly mortgage payment.

Qualifying for an FHA Streamline Refinance Loan

The basic requirements for an FHA streamline refinance are:

• The mortgage that you want to refinance must be an FHA-insured loan.

• You must be current (i.e. not delinquent) on your mortgage payments.

• The primary reason why you want to refinance your FHA loan must be to lower your monthly principal and interest payment.

• You cannot tap your equity (i.e. take out cash) if you use the streamline process.

The FHA streamline refinance loan program isn’t new; in fact, the streamline process has existed since the early 1980s. An FHA-approved lender can help you get started on your FHA streamline refinance loan.

A reverse mortgage is a low-interest loan for senior homeowners that uses a home’s equity as collateral. The loan amount is a percentage of the home’s value determined by the age of the youngest homeowner. The loan does not have to be repaid until the last surviving homeowner permanently moves out of the property or passes away. At that time, the estate has approximately 12 months to repay the balance of the reverse mortgage or sell the home to pay off the balance. All remaining equity is inherited by the estate. The estate is not liable if the home sells for less than the balance of the reverse mortgage.

4 Must-Know Facts About Obama’s New Student Loan Plan

Nearly 5 million borrowers could be affected by expanded Pay As You Earn eligibility.

President Barack Obama announced some big news this week that stands to help many student loan borrowers ​​​​​​​​​​​​​.

Most people met the president’s proposed changes with excitement, even though it seemed like many didn’t exactly understand what the changes were or, even more importantly, how the changes may apply to them. So, let’s answer some big questions about the president’s executive action.

1. Will these updates help me? If you have federal student loans, maybe. With his executive action, the president expanded the existing Pay As You Earn program available to federal student loan borrowers.

Currently, this plan caps monthly payments at 10 percent of a borrower’s disposable income and forgives the balance after 20 years of payments. Those aspects of this plan won’t change.

What will change is the number of borrowers who can take advantage of this option. Currently, only newer borrowers are eligible for this plan. However, starting in 2015, borrowers who took out loans before October 2007 or stopped borrowing by October 2011 will now be eligible. Government officials estimate this number to be 5 million people.

2. How much could I save? Now, most federal loan borrowers are eligible for income-based repayment – a different repayment plan that has the same premise as Pay As You Earn.

Unlike Pay As You Earn, IBR caps payments at 15 percent of one’s disposable income and forgives the balance after 25 years of payments. Those differences could mean a lot, both in monthly payment amount and in the total amount paid over time.

For instance, consider a borrower who owes $55,000 at a 3.41 percent interest rate, has an income of about $35,000 per year, and is not married and has no other dependents. Here’s what that person’s payments would look like under three different payment plans:

Why it’s miles cheaper to avoid the banks when buying a car

WITH car sales falling off a cliff, there’s never been a better time to buy a car. The number of new cars sold in Ireland last year was a third the number sold in 2000, when the Celtic Tiger was alive and well. The industry is on its knees as a result – so you’ve a better chance of getting a bargain.

“It’s definitely a buyer’s market,” said Conor Faughnan, director of policy with AA Ireland. “You can push the car dealer on price, particularly if you’ve got the cash to do a deal.”

Cash of course is the cheapest way to buy a car – but not many of us have the luxury of having the cash to buy a car outright. Chances are, you’ll have to borrow to buy your dream set of wheels. Choose the wrong car finance however and you could pay as much as €6,000 more for your car than you would have, had you borrowed the money elsewhere.

You usually have two choices of car finance – a hire purchase agreement, where you pay monthly repayments for the hire of the car, or a car loan. You’ll typically be offered hire purchase if you go to a dealer; while a bank will usually offer you a loan.

The Sunday Independent examined the car finance offered by AIB, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank, Permanent TSB and Ulster Bank as well as the hire purchase deals offered by a few dealers. We found that hire purchase can work out a lot cheaper than a loan – but only if the interest rate is lower than 9 per cent and there are no hidden charges lobbed on top of that.

BORROWING €10,000

Up to €2,350 more expensive at the bank

If borrowing €10,000 to buy a car, one of the cheapest ways to do so is through hire purchase with Renault Finance.

If you’re buying a Renault Megane (Coupe, Hatch or Grand), Renault Finance offers interest-free hire purchase of up to €11,000 as long as you pay off the money borrowed over three years – and pay a 30 per cent up-front deposit off the price of the car.

If you’re not interested in a Megane, but have another Renault in mind, you could borrow €10,000 from Renault Finance at an interest rate of 4.9 per cent under hire purchase – as long as you can stump up the 30 per cent deposit. Under that rate, the monthly repayments are €185 over five years – and the cost of your credit, including interest and fees of €150, comes to €1,250. That’s up to €2,350 cheaper than the banks.

If you’re buying from a BMW dealer, BMW Financial Services charges 7.95 per cent interest under HP if you’re borrowing €10,000. The monthly repayments over five years are €198.67, which brings the cost of your credit to €1,920 – almost half what some banks charge. You don’t have to pay a deposit to get the 7.95 per cent interest rate.

Our survey found that Bank of Ireland is the most expensive for car loans. It charges 13.6 per cent interest on a fixed-rate loan of €10,000. Under that rate, your monthly repayments over five years are €226.82 – which brings the cost of your credit to €3,609.

Bank of Ireland will knock off 1 per cent from your interest rate if you get your loan online – but even with that discount, its €10,000 car loans still work out more expensive than those offered by AIB, Danske Bank, and PTSB. Ulster Bank is the second most expensive for a €10,000 car loan. Ulster charges 12.3 per cent interest – which clocks up to €3,238 after five years.

Permanent TSB offers the cheapest €10,000 car loan. Permo charges 9.9 per cent interest, which will cost you €2,595 after five years.

Check if your bank offers hire purchase as that may work out cheaper for you than a car loan. Bank of Ireland charges 10.5 per cent interest on €10,000 borrowed under hire purchase, which brings the cost of your credit to €2,756.40 after five years – about €800 cheaper than the bank’s fixed rate loan.

BORROWING €30,000

Up to €5,731 more expensive at the bank

If buying a Renault, Renault Finance should work out a lot cheaper than your bank. It costs €3,510 to borrow €30,000 over five years under Renault’s 4.9 per cent interest rate for hire purchase – but again, you need a 30 per cent deposit to get that rate.

If you don’t have the 30 per cent deposit, you’ll be charged 6.9 per cent interest – which is still cheaper than the banks.

It costs €6,068 to borrow €30,000 over five years under BMW Financial Services’ hire purchase plan – which charges 7.95 per cent interest.

Borrow the €30,000 through Bank of Ireland’s variable loan however, and you’ll pay €9,241 in interest over five years – between €3,173 and €5,731 more than the hire purchase offers we examined. Bank of Ireland charges 11.7 per cent interest on this loan – which makes its variable loan the most expensive of the €30,000 car loans examined.

Danske Bank’s variable loan is also expensive. Danske charges 11.47 per cent on a variable loan of €30,000, which will cost you €9,054 after five years.

The cost of Permo’s €30,000 car loan, which has an interest rate of 9.3 per cent, adds up to €7,277 after five years. The hire purchase offers from Bank of Ireland and AIB worked out cheaper than Permo’s loan however.

BORROWING €60,000

Up to €6,192 more expensive at the bank

One of the cheapest ways to borrow €60,000 is through hire purchase with BMW Financial Services. You’ll pay 7.95 per cent interest on €60,000 and this will cost you €12,290 after five years. Get a €60,000 variable loan at 11.7 per cent from Bank of Ireland however, and you’ll pay €18,482 interest after five years – about €6,200 more.

Avoid Danske Bank’s variable loan – it charges 11.47 per cent interest on €60,000, which will cost you €18,107 after five years.

At 9.3 per cent interest, Permanent TSB’s car loan was the cheapest €60,000 bank loan surveyed. The cost of that loan came to €14,555 after five years.

Bank of Ireland’s hire purchase however works out cheaper than Permo’s car loan. The cost of borrowing €60,000 under Bank of Ireland’s hire purchase over five years adds up to €13,515.

LEASING

If you own your own business and you’ve no desire to own a car outright, leasing could work out cheaper for you in the short-term.

For example, it could cost you €29,560 to buy a Toyota Avensis diesel saloon. If you lease it for five years from Merrion Fleet Management, your monthly repayments come to €512.67. These repayments include the cost of maintenance such as road tax, servicing and tyres. By contrast, the monthly repayments for a €30,000 bank loan over five years range between €619 and €654 and these repayments don’t include costs such as road tax and servicing.

The cost of leasing a car will however add up over time. After five years, the monthly repayments for the lease of the Toyota Avensis add up to €30,760 – and you won’t own your car but must hand it back to the leasing company at an agreed time. As long as you meet the repayments on your car loan or hire purchase agreement, you’ll own your car.

CAVEATS

You need to understand everything about a hire purchase agreement before you sign up to it, warns Dermott Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland.

The main advantage of a loan over hire purchase is that you can sell your car to repay the loan should you fall behind on your repayments. You can’t do this with hire purchase. As a result, you’re more likely to have your car repossessed under hire purchase than a car loan. With hire purchase, you don’t own the car until the final payment is made.

“The inability to pay later has given rise to significant debts when devalued cars are repossessed, sold for small market value and leaving unmanageable balances to pay,” said Jewell.

K2 Tech Update | Tech Tip

On occasion, you might have the need to determine how much interest is paid on a loan over multiple payments. For example, perhaps you are preparing a tax return and need to know how much interest you paid during the course of the year. There are multiple approaches to solving this problem, including building an amortization schedule in Excel. However, the fastest method may be to use Excel’s CUMIPMT function and in this tip, you will learn how to take advantage of this little-known feature.

To begin, consider the worksheet shown in Figure 1 . In cell B7, a formula containing the CUMIPMT function has been entered to calculate the total interest paid beginning with payment seven and continuing through payment eighteen.

The syntax of the formula containing the CUMIPMT function closely resembles that of a formula containing a PMT function. More specifically, the syntax of the CUMIPMT function is as follows:

where,

Rate = The interest rate on the loan,

Nper = The number of payments over which the loan is amortized,

Pv = The original principal value of the loan,

Start_period = The beginning payment number for which total interest will be computed,

End_period = The ending payment number for which total interest will be computed, and

Type = A value of “0” or “1” to indicate whether loan payments occur at the end of the period (0) or the beginning of the period (1).

Returning to the example presented in Figure 1. as shown in Figure 2 , the total amount of interest paid on the loan beginning with payment number seven and continuing through payment number eighteen is $8,588.94. Instead of building a full amortization schedule or using other methods, you can arrive at this solution that is really nothing more than an extension of the very common PMT function.

Figure 2 – Completed Example of CUMIPMT Function

While numerous methods exist for calculating the amount of interest paid over multiple loan payments, perhaps none is easier to implement than Excel’s CUMIPMT function. With this function, you can quickly and easily calculate the amount of interest paid by simply entering a formula that contains a function that closely resembles one that you likely already use – Excel’s PMT function. Therefore, the next time you need to calculate the amount of interest paid over multiple loan payments, consider using Excel’s CUMIPMT function to speed the process of obtaining the correct answer.

For a video demonstration of this tip, please visit www.tinyurl.com/k2tips162 .

Welcome to USBusinessFundingSolutions.com

To earn funding for you or your business, get the assistance you need from coaches who care.

We have found our niche when it comes to business funding education and grant one-on-one coaching.

If you want to become a successful business owner who has a special ability to envision and commit to lofty funding goals for your business, let us take you to the top of the funding pyramid and show you how to become one of the millions of Americans who will receive special funding this year for their business, their education, a new home, real estate investments or any other worth while venture.

If you are serious enough about funding your new or existing business or other worthwhile endeavor and have the willingness to put in the time and effort necessary to achieve your funding goals, we have the right people in place waiting to guide you every step of the way.

If you have the strength to persevere through a few bumps in the road along the way, and you aren’t fussy about where the money comes from: U. S. federal or local government, non-profit organizations, foundations, private donors, sponsors, government contracts, loans, angel investors, and/or venture capitalists, then U. S. Funding Solutions has a wealth of knowledge on how to tap into these sources for your business and other funding needs.

If you are teachable and have the ability to accept coaching and advice from professional funding coaches who inspire and train people just like you and who are qualified to coach people in all 50 states, let our team of coaches start working with you today. They are in touch with funding opportunities on a daily basis, and are they are constantly researching new grants opportunities for their clients as they become available.

If you are truly serious about increasing your odds of receiving a grant, you do so when you work with a professional grant coach who will give you the knowledge, strategies, and tools that you need to pursue your lofty personal and financial goals.

Today’s SBA Loan Rates

Jan. 18, 2011

We are going to break down the current SBA loan rates. into two categories, 1. on SBA 7a loans and 2. on SBA 504 loans. Both are very different so we will describe what the current rates are separately, and give a brief description of the programs themselves.

SBA Loan Rates on 7a Loans

The vast majority of banks tie their 7a loans to Prime Rate, which is currently at 3.25%. The banks margin is normally 2.75%, so the Effective Rate for the borrower is currently at 6%. It is very uncommon in this market for a bank to offer an effective rate less than 6%. Most banks are reluctant to lend, so if they do they are currently maxing out their margin.

Also, the SBA 7a loan. is used for the purchase or refinance of commercial real estate, business goodwill, equipment, debt consolidation (limited) and working capital. The loan is almost always amortized over 25 years and the rate floats with Prime, adjusting quarterly. Prepayment penalty is 5% year one, 3% year 2, 1% year 3, gone thereafter. Loan amounts can go up to $5,000,000.

SBA Loan Rates on 504 Loans

The SBA 504 loan. has two different loans and therefore 2 different rates. The first lien position loan is a conventional bank loan, so its terms and rates vary from one lender to the next. By the most common loan would be a 5 year fixed on either a 20 or 25 year amortization schedule. For example, our 504 loans are tied to the LIBOR 5 Year Swap, which is currently at 2.15%. The margin depends on the financial strength of the borrower as well as the loan size, but the Effective Rate is currently between 5.8% and 6.2%, on a 25 year amortization schedule. Theses loan also come in a 1, 3 or 10 year fixed rates, on a 15, 20 or 25 year amortization schedules.

The second lien loan is the SBA loan also referred to as the CDC loan, it. s a 20 year fixed loan on a 20 year amortization schedule. The current debenture rate is 5.79%.

Go here to see the most updated commercial loan rates. including the 504 debenture rates, conventional commercial mortgage and SBA 7a loan rates.

Collateral

Collateral is an additional form of security which can be used to assure a lender that you have a second source of loan repayment. Assets such as equipment, buildings, accounts receivable, and (in some cases) inventory are considered possible sources of repayment if they can be sold by the bank for cash. Collateral can consist of assets that are usable in the business as well as personal assets that remain outside the business. This collateral table [link to collateral table in Understanding the Basics/Collateral) shows how different forms of collateral are valued by a typical lender and SBA.

You can assume that all assets financed with borrowed funds will be used as collateral for the loan. Depending on how much equity was contributed by you toward the acquisition of these assets, the lender may require other business assets as collateral.

Certified appraisals are required for loans greater than $250,000 secured by commercial real estate. The SBA may require professional appraisals of both business and personal assets, plus any necessary survey and/or feasibility study. When real estate is being used as collateral, banks and other regulated lenders are required by law to obtain third-party valuation on transactions of $50,000 or more.

Your Home or Personal Assets May Be Considered as Collateral

Owner-occupied residences generally become collateral when:

The lender requires the residence as collateral

The equity in the residence is substantial and other credit factors / sources of collateral are weak

Such collateral is necessary to assure that the principal(s) remain committed to the success of the venture for which the loan is being made

You operate the business out of the residence or other buildings located on the same parcel of land

To the extent that worthwhile assets are available, adequate collateral is required as security on all SBA loans. However, the SBA will generally not decline a loan when inadequacy of collateral is the only unfavorable factor.

For all SBA loans, personal guaranties are required from every owner of 20 percent or more of the business, as well as from other individuals who hold key management positions. Whether a guaranty will be secured by personal assets or not is based on the value of the assets already pledged and the value of the assets personally owned compared to the amount borrowed.

Business Loan Application Checklist

SBA is not the only source for small-business loans. State and local economic-development agencies – and numerous nonprofit organizations – provide low-interest loans to small business owners who may not qualify for traditional commercial loans.

When it comes to applying for these loans, the good news is that most of these other lenders require the same kinds of information. Of course, each loan program has specific forms you need to fill out. But for the most part, you’ll need to submit the same types of documentation. So it’s a good idea to gather what you’ll need before you even start the application process.

Loan Application Form

Forms vary by program and lending institution, but they all ask for the same information. You should be prepared to answer the following questions. It’s a good idea to have this information prepared before you fill out the application:

Why are you applying for this loan?

Who are the members of your management team?

Either as part of the loan application or as a separate document, you will likely need to provide some personal background information, including previous addresses, names used, criminal record, educational background, etc.

Resumes

Some lenders require evidence of management or business experience, particularly for loans that can be used to start a new business.

Business Plan

All loan programs require a sound business plan to be submitted with the loan application. The business plan should include a complete set of projected financial statements, including profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet.

Here are some resources for preparing your business plan:

Personal Credit Report

Your lender will obtain your personal credit report as part of the application process. However, you should obtain a credit report from all three major consumer credit rating agencies before submitting a loan application to the lender. Inaccuracies and blemishes on your credit report can hurt your chances of getting a loan approved. It’s critical you try to clear these up before beginning the application process.

Business Credit Report

If you are already in business, you should be prepared to submit a credit report for your business. As with the personal credit report, it is important to review your business’ credit report before beginning the application process.

Income Tax Returns

Most loan programs require applicants to submit personal and business income tax returns for the previous three years.

Financial Statements

Many loan programs require owners with more than a 20 percent stake in your business to submit signed personal financial statements.

You may also be required to provide projected financial statements either as part of, or separate from your business plan. It is a good idea to have these prepared and ready in case a program for which you are applying requires these documents to be submitted individuall.

The following forms may be used to prepare your projected financial statements:

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow

Bank Statements

Many loan programs require one year of personal and business bank statements to be submitted as part of a loan package.

Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable

Most loan programs require details of a business’s most current financial position. Before you begin the loan application process, make sure you have accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Collateral

Collateral requirements vary greatly. Some loan programs do not require collateral. Loans involving higher risk factors for default require substantial collateral. Strong business plans and financial statements can help you avoid putting up collateral. In any case, it is a good idea to prepare a collateral document that describes cost/value of personal or business property that will be used to secure a loan.

Legal Documents

Depending on a loan’s specific requirements, your lender may require you to submit one or more legal documents. Make sure you have the following items in order, if applicable:

SBA Loans

If you’re planning to start a business or expand an existing business, you might need financing help. SBA participates in a number of loan programs designed for business owners who may have trouble qualifying for a traditional bank loan.

To start the process, you should visit a local bank or lending institution that participates in SBA programs. SBA loan applications are structured to meet SBA requirements, so that the loan is eligible for an SBA guarantee. This guarantee represents the portion of the loan that SBA will repay to the lender if you default on your loan payments.

The SBA Loan Application Checklist provides a listing of forms and documents you and your lender will need to create a loan package to submit to SBA.

The following are direct links to information about commonly requested SBA programs:

Starting and Expanding Businesses

Gives 7(a) loans to eligible borrowers for starting, acquiring and expanding a small business. This type of loan is the most basic and the most used within SBA’s business loan programs. Borrowers must apply through a participating lender institution.

Provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings.

Offers very small loans to start-up, newly established or growing small business concerns. SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community based lenders which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts up to a maximum of $50,000. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made on the local level.

Disaster Loans

Provide financial assistance to victims of disasters or to individuals in a declared disaster area. You may be eligible for this type of loan even if you don’t own a business.

Assist small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and nonprofit organizations as they recover from economic losses resulting from physical disaster or an agricultural production disaster.

Export Assistance Loans

Provide exporters and lenders with a streamlined method of obtaining financing for loans and lines of credit up to $500,000. Lenders use their own credit decision process and loan documentation; exporters get access to their funds faster. SBA provides an expedited eligibility review with a response in less than 24 hours.

Offers loans targeted at businesses that are able to generate export sales but need additional working capital to support these opportunities.

Gives term loans that are designed for businesses that plan to start/continue exporting or those that that have been adversely affected by competition from imports. The proceeds of the loan must enable the borrower to be in a better position to compete.

Veteran and Military Community Loans

Offers funds to eligible small businesses to meet ordinary and necessary operating expenses that could have been met, but are unable to meet, because an essential employee was “called-up” to active duty in their role as a military reservist.

Special Purpose Loans

Help small businesses meet their short-term and cyclical working-capital needs through the SBA umbrella program called CAPLines.

Provides financing to eligible small businesses for the planning, design or installation of a pollution control facility.

CAIP is a program established to assist U.S. companies that are doing business in areas of the country that have been negatively affected by the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ). To be eligible, a business must reside in a county noted as being negatively affected by NAFTA, based on job losses and the unemployment rate of the county.

Current Mortgage Rates News

MBS prices have drifted lower this morning. October CPI rose 0.2% from September, matching the consensus, and it was 0.2% higher than a year ago. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, also increased 0.2%, matching the consensus. Core CPI was 1.9% higher than a year ago, close to the Fed’s target level of 2.0%. Looking deeper, inflation for services has been much higher than inflation for goods over the past year. Separately, October Industrial Production declined 0.2% from September, below the consensus for an increase of 0.1%.

In a volatile mortgage market, current mortgage rates can change multiple times during the day.

As a mortgage rate shopper, it’s important to know when today’s rates are changing. This is because, when mortgage rates change, mortgage lenders will not honor rate quotes which have not been previously “locked”.

To lock today’s mortgage rates, then, be sure to commit with your lender before current rates begin to move. Whether you’re trying to lock a purchase or a refinance loan. the market waits for no one.

About Today’s Mortgage Rates Analysis

Today’s mortgage rate analysis is based on live mortgage-backed securities (MBS) pricing provided by MBSQuoteline. a real-time mortgage market data service available to loan officers, real estate agents, and other finance professionals.

The MBS data supplied by MBSQuoteline is the same market data used to formulate current mortgage rates by the nation’s mortgage lenders.

The chart at top depicts today’s Fannie Mae mortgage bond pricing. Fannie Mae bonds are linked to conventional mortgage rates which include mortgage rates for programs such as the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0 ), the 3-percent down Conventional 97 loan. the HomePath mortgage program, and others.

MBS prices are inversely related to today’s mortgage rates. When bond prices rise, mortgage rates sink. In general, a twenty-five basis point change in MBS pricing — up or down — leads to a 0.125 percentage point change in mortgage rates.

Note that the chart above does not depict the path of today’s Ginnie Mae mortgage bonds, although Ginnie Mae bonds and Fannie Mae bonds tend to move in similar directions.

Ginnie Mae bonds correlate to today’s mortgage rates for FHA loans. such as the FHA Streamline Refinance. which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration; VA loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs; and USDA loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

What Are Mortgage Rates *Right Now*?

Mortgage rates change all day, every day. The mortgage rates you get from your bank “now” won’t be the same rates you get from your bank in an hour. Be smart when you shop. Compare multiple lenders and get your best deal.

Get today’s real-time mortgage rates now. Your social security number is not required to get started, and all quotes come with instant access to your live credit scores.

The information contained on The Mortgage Reports website is for informational purposes only and is not an advertisement for products offered by Full Beaker. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the policy or position of Full Beaker, its officers, parent, or affiliates.

Mortgage interest rates are a key player in what is affordable

Home affordability is a function of effective purchasing power. In order to measure effective purchasing power it is necessary to consider household income, mortgage interest rates, property tax expense and typical mortgage loan availability and terms.

This affordability graph assumes a home buyer with the median household income in Flathead County with a 25 percent down payment and a 30-year home loan at the average interest rate for that year. The property taxes and insurance expense are estimated based on 1.5 percent of the median home price.

Using these variables it is possible to estimate how much a family with a median household income can afford to pay for a home in Flathead County each year and compare that to what the actual home prices have been over the last 31 years.

This graph shows that home affordability and prices were pretty well matched from 1984 to 2004. In 2005 the recent housing bubble started to develop, then topped out in 2007 with the start of the recent housing crisis. During that period, the median home price got completely out of line with what was affordable to the typical home buyer. Flathead home prices didn’t return to an affordable range until 2009 and 2010. Since that time, actual home prices have pretty well matched what is affordable in Flathead County.

Mortgage interest rates are a key player in what is affordable and they have been at near record lows of around 4 percent over the last four years. If and when those rates start to increase, they will drive down home affordability and could slow the housing market.

The good news is that home prices in Flathead County are currently affordable to the typical home buyer and is further evidenced by the strong housing market that currently exists.

In 1981, Jim started Kelley Appraisal in Kalispell and has since built an extensive data base of economic and real estate-related data on northwestern Montana. Over the last several years, he has published annual reports on the Flathead Real Estate Market and been a guest speaker on numerous occasions for various groups in the Flathead.

Saratoga

We have stayed at this resort a total of 55 nights. Most recent April stay was 7 nights in a Studio which is comfortable for two. This was our first stay in the Congress Park section of the resort and we loved building 20. Close to bus stop, quiet pool, and short walk to Disney Springs. Longer walk but not far to Common area of the resort; Store, food court, front desk. Bus transportation to parks is slow and lengthy with many stops in the resort. Food Service at the Springs has never improved and is small for the size of the resort. Great location for when parks closed early, head back to the resort then walk to Disney Springs for the evening. Great place to make memories year after year.

Convenient Location Makes This Resort

Acton_Traveler2010 (27 reviews)

Our family of four (two adults and two adult children) stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort for three nights in April. We are DVC members, and booked a two bedroom villa using additional points to upgrade to a preferred location.

Our villa was ready for us before we even left the Orlando airport, a few hours before the posted check-in time. We had checked in online prior to our arrival and were notified of our room’s availability by text.

This may be partially due to the theming of the resort– turn of the 20th century at Saratoga NY, but the villa did have a bit of a dated feel to it. It’s funny how a television in an armoire now looks old. We had no issue with the cleanliness of our room and found it to be very comfortably sized for the four of us. Also, we found the beds to be quite comfortable and the bathroom and laundry facilities to be in keeping with other Disney resorts.

On this particular vacation, we relaxed, golfed, visited Disney Springs two or three times, and spent one day at Typhoon Lagoon (recently voted one of the top water parks in the world on a popular travel site). Saratoga Springs was an excellent choice as a home base for all these activities, and we felt it was definitely worth it to upgrade to the preferred villa location (in our case, Congress Park).

We enjoyed two pools at this resort: the High Rock Spring feature pool and the leisure pool closest to our building. Both pool areas were exceptionally clean with plenty of towels available. Seating at the feature pool can sometimes be tight, though we were able to find a spot after making a few ‘laps’ around the area. The food at the quick serve restaurant near the High Rock Spring pool was very good with numerous fresh options, though their delivery system of bringing food out to waiting guests by number seemed less efficient than it could have been. Their flatbread pizzas were particularly tasty.

One member of our party booked a massage at the Senses Spa at Saratoga Springs, and found the experience comparable to a previous spa treatment at the Senses Spa at the Grand Floridian.

It was an easy walk to Disney Springs, where we enjoyed a wonderful meal at Frontera Cocina. They serve fresh, authentic Mexican-inspired dishes and delicious margaritas. Be forewarned: a margarita was almost the same price as an entree, but was a delightful splurge as part of our meal. Service at Frontera Cocina was professional and attentive without being invasive. The restaurant was very busy, so reservations are a definite plus. On another night we tried a casual quick serve option at Disney Springs and were not disappointed.

As mentioned in previous posts, Disney Golf is a fine value and is very easy to arrange. The free transportation picked up our party at the front reception area in a shuttle/taxi and transported our group directly to the golf course. We found the front desk at Saratoga Springs to be extremely organized and helpful in arranging this transportation and helping with our golf bags.

We had a wonderful time at Typhoon Lagoon. Bus transportation from the resort was convenient and with a reasonable wait time. There was also very little wait to return to the resort at the end of our day.

Saratoga Springs is not my favorite Disney resort. However, I would not hesitate to stay here again if we were making a quick trip or planning an impromptu vacation when some other favorite resorts were already booked. We found it to be clean, well-equipped, and convenient. If available, I would use the extra points to book a preferred location accommodation at this resort.

We stayed for five days/nights in a two bedroom villa, in the Carousel Building, from late May to early June. Let’s get the bad out of the way first, since that’s the order in which we encountered it. A towel rack was on the floor in the bathroom. The loveseat (a sleeper sofa) was very old, not exactly clean, and from what I was told, really unpleasant (bordering on painful) to sleep on. In the kitchen we found a super gross glass and rice in the utensil drawer (TIP: I’d wash all the dishes before using them, even if the crud isn’t so visible).

Now the good (which really did outweigh the bad). We did not find the bus service (or the wait time) to be all that bad, but they do pack those buses to standing room only capacity. It does at least appear that some resorts have more buses running than others (specifically this one, which is just enormous). Our room was spacious and thanks to the kitchen we were able to eat breakfast there and even sometimes lunch (definitely a money saver). Staff was always friendly and courteous. The aforementioned towel rack was fixed within an hour of our calling, and when I called about the glass and the rice, we received a heartfelt apology and extra dish washing detergent at no charge. We never heard our neighbors. I know there were families with kids on either side of us, but I never heard them. Huge bonus.

My son had a blast at the on-site pools, though the movie-night by the pool is truly nothing a big fat nothing. The Artist’s Palette, an on-site restaurant, was quite tasty.

The grounds are lovely. We’d definitely go back, but we’d probably try a different building, and we’d wash all the dishes before using them.

Review from DVC member

Nick M (10 reviews)

Philadelphia, United States

Let me start by saying I have been a Disney DVC member for several years now. My family likes to try all the different DVC resorts. Saratoga Springs is our 6th different resort we have stayed at and I have to say not our favorite. I still must give it a 4 out of 5 due to the location and the resort layout. The pools were very nice. The staff were great. The room was just ok. We had a 1 bedroom villa in the Paddock section. The location was close to the pool and easy access the bridge that took you to the main pool and restaurant. The layout of the room was odd. It was outdated, the bathroom shower was horrible ( very low pressure). The worst of all were the buses! The buses are suppose to run every 20 minutes. When we were lucky 20 minute wait was a good time. However on average we waited 45-60 minutes on average. Totally unacceptable in my book for Disney. A few nights as an example we waited for the Magic Kingdom bus to come waited 45 minutes only for the bus to be at maximum capacity, then another bus came 10 minutes later only to be full. Finally I asked another bus driver what was going on and he said nothing, he said the buses are running fine and on schedule. It’s Disney so I refrained from flipping out. Then the next night we were at Downtown Disney only to wait in the rain for 75 minutes for a bus. That bus driver said it is the resorts who order the buses, when I went to the lobby the next day the desk manager said they have nothing to do with the buses. This was the main issue for us and other families we met around the pool and waiting for the bus. Saratoga Springs is a nice resort but don’t expect to get anywhere quickly.

A truly stunning, large sprawling resort. Immaculate in every way. We stayed in a studio at Springs section, 2 adults, a 15 year old and a 10 year old). Perfect as we weren’t in in much, just to sleep. Pools just fabulous too. However, waited more than 45 mins one afternoon for a bus to Magic Kingdom when we had a dinner reservation at Ohana, and on SEVERAL occasions waited more than 30 mins on buses to the other parks. Beware if you have dinner reservations, give yourself an hour more than you think you might need to limit stress. Staff super friendly and restaurants serve great food too.

See most recent reviews

Traveller Room Tips

room 8645 had a golf course view

Travellers also viewed.

Disney s Old Key West Resort

#71 of 337 hotels in Orlando

Disney s Animal Kingdom Lodge

#35 of 337 hotels in Orlando

Disney s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter

#65 of 337 hotels in Orlando

*Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect average nightly room rates, including taxes and fees that are fixed, known to our partners, and due at time of booking. Please see our partners for more details.

Master of Professional Accounting

Prepare to Become a CPA with a Master of Professional Accounting Degree

Increasingly complex business methods, growing sophistication in auditing approaches, new tax laws, and demand for highly technical services require that you have an expanded knowledge base to become an effective, efficient accounting professional. Becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) opens doors to opportunities not only in accounting firms, but also across the business landscape. The Penn State World Campus online accounting master’s program helps you acquire the skills to successfully prepare for the CPA exam, and provides you with academic credentials to prepare you for licensure as a CPA.

If you have completed an undergraduate degree in business or accounting, and need to satisfy the 150-credit hour educational requirements for CPA licensure in Pennsylvania and most other states, this AACSB-accredited online accounting master’s degree is designed for you.

Admission to the Master of Professional Accounting program does not require an undergraduate accounting degree, but it does require certain undergraduate accounting courses. Prerequisite accounting courses are listed on the “How to Apply” page.

The Penn State Difference

The Master’s in Accounting program is developed and taught by experienced full-time Penn State faculty with diverse backgrounds. The faculty are experienced in teaching online and are prepared to teach you how to analyze and evaluate business problems.

Start with a Graduate Certificate and Step Up to the Master’s Degree

The Graduate Certificate in Accounting consists of four courses from the Master of Professional Accounting, which means you can begin your accounting education by pursuing the certificate, and then choose to continue and apply to the master’s degree program. If you apply and are accepted to the master’s degree program, you can apply the 12 credits from the certificate toward the degree.

The online Master of Professional Accounting degree can prepare you for a career in auditing and public accounting, industrial and managerial accounting, and governmental and not-for-profit accounting. Combining graduate accounting course work with CPA certification can facilitate your entry to careers in consulting and advisory services as well as corporate finance, financial analysis, and forensic accounting.

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science

Maximize your career potential, transition to civilian life or prepare for graduate school with the online Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Penn State World Campus. This degree is designed for students who want to develop an in-depth understanding and engage in analysis of domestic politics, the politics of other nations, and political theory.

Flexible, Convenient Education That Fits Your Life

Penn State’s online political science program offers the convenience of studying around your busy personal and professional schedule. Whether you are a parent, professional, or active-duty military or veteran, the flexibility of this degree means that you do not have to stop working — or travel to campus.

Political Science Curriculum

Through extensive course work in political science, you will develop analytical reasoning and critical thinking skills while gaining substantive expertise in one or more areas of political science. This degree provides maximum flexibility when selecting classes, allowing you to tailor your program of study to suit your goals for specialized or general knowledge of politics and related fields.

Upper-level courses in the political science program emphasize research-based writing projects that allow you to hone sought-after skills for employment in a variety of fields, including government, law, business, journalism, and the nonprofit sector. This degree also provides excellent background for graduate work in law, public policy, public administration, and political science. If you are a military student, this degree can help you expand your knowledge and refine your skills to advance your career as a civilian in the government or within the military.

The mission of the honors society is to promote excellence in the study of political science, government, and international and public affairs. Members have access to networking, grants, awards, scholarships, and other opportunities.

BORROW UP TO $35,000 ON YOUR CAR!

No Credit Check Job Requirements

Good, Poor or Bad credit? No problem! No Job? No Problem! We don t do credit checks or employment checks. If you have a vehicle that is fully paid off, we can lend you up to $35,000 depending on the value of your car.

70% Lower Interest Rate Vs Our Competitors

We beat any interest rate on a title loan that you get from another lender

Same Day Cash

It doesn t take a day. You can walk out with cash you need in approx an 1 hour. Quick, painless and easy! Just like it should be.

Keep Your Car

We don t store cars or take them off the road. You get to keep your vehicle during a loan with us. Come to our office with your vehicle, take the cash and off you go!

Up To 5 Year Term

Most other companies require you to pay off your loan in less than 60 days. Our loans are either 2 to 5 years in length. You choose and relax, you ve got time.

No Prepayment Penalties

A loan with our company can be paid off at any time with no early payment penalties. For example, you can get a 4 year loan and pay off in 6 months. NO PENALTIES!

Career development loans: are they a good way to fund your master’s?

F unding is the biggest headache faced by students wanting to continue their studies after their undergrad degree. Taught master’s degrees no longer qualify for research council funding, and while some students manage to put together a funding package through scholarships and sponsorships, others are drawn to taking out a bank loan. But is this a good move?

Career development loans (CDLs) have become an increasingly common funding option for those undertaking postgraduate study. There are only two banks currently offering them – the Co-operative bank and Barclays .

Since the government-supported scheme began in 1988, over 304,000 people have taken out a CDL. In this 25-year period, banks have lent in excess of 1.34bn. The Co-operative says: We have seen a steady increase. In 2013, almost 5,000 people took out a CDL with the Co-operative bank.

The CDL funds full- or part-time vocational and professional study. Although it is a commercial bank loan, the government pays the interest for the duration of the course and recipients do not have to repay the loan until they complete their studies.

In recent years, the number of students undertaking postgraduate study has fallen due to following a rise in course fees. A postgraduate taught course now costs an average of just under 6,000 a year, an increase of 7% since 2012-2013.

The number of part-time students has fallen even further. Between 2010-11 and 2012-13, UK and EU students entering part-time postgraduate courses dropped 27% – the equivalent of 25,000 students.

Despite the fall in numbers of those undertaking postgrad study, there’s been a rise in CDL applications, because of the funding cuts.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) explains the point of the loans: Professional career development loans are short-term finance offers which enable adults to undertake vocational and professional study, with the aim of moving on in work or into work quickly. Recipients are able to concentrate on the learning or training without needing to meet repayments. Repayment only begins one month after they leave their course.

Nevertheless, CDLs have come under some scrutiny and the University and College Union (UCU) argues that high interest rates, non-income contingent payback terms and the need for a good credit record mean that they are not suitable for everyone.

UCU points to a worrying effect on access to postgrad study: Students from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds tend to be more risk-averse, and the benefits of further learning and the increased salaries that postgraduate qualifications can bring are being skewed towards more advantaged learners only.

You can take out a loan for any amount between 300 and 10,000, and both banks offer an interest rate of 9.9%. CDLs are available to those aged between 18 and 69 with an unlimited right to stay in the UK. However, you need to have been resident in Britain for at least three years, so if you have been abroad for over six months then the banks are likely to reject your application.

The banks will also reject your application if your credit rating doesn’t match their eligibility criteria. While neither the Co-operative nor Barclays were able to disclose the number of applications they rejected, I spoke to a number of students who had their applications declined.

Emma Finamore, currently doing a journalism master’s at Goldsmiths, University of London, says: My application was rejected even though I hadn’t been in any trouble with the bank or phone companies. This nearly stopped me from pursuing my dream of studying journalism.

If I hadn’t started a crowd-sourcing campaign and known someone who was prepared to lend me 5,000, I wouldn’t have been able to do this master’s.

The government covers the interest for one month after the course finishes, but after that the loan operates as a normal bank loan. The student is then fully liable for repayment. Recipients are given between one and five years to repay their loan; but obviously the longer they take, the more interest they accrue. The Co-op bank says the average term on a CDL is five years.

Unlike ordinary loans, CDLs come without arrangement fees or early settlement charges – if you want to end your repayment plan prematurely you can settle without additional charges.

If a graduate is still unemployed after they complete their course, there are protections in place and repayments can be deferred for up to 17 months, but this must be applied for in three separate stages.

However, once the recipient has entered into a repayment scheme it can become very difficult to halt or postpone payments. Banks are keen to retrieve their money even if employment circumstances change. With increasingly precarious labour conditions and the growth of zero-hour contracts, jobs will not necessarily remain secure for the entire repayment scheme.

Veering off-plan can cause long-lasting damage to your credit history and affect your future ability to gain credit. As with all bank loans, there is some degree of financial risk involved.

If recipients fail to meet payments, both the Co-operative and Barclays transfer the loan to a debt collector agency. The Co-op says they cannot disclose how frequently they transfer loans to a third-party debt agency because this is commercially sensitive data.

The Co-op says: If a customer encounters financial difficulties and is unable to pay back their loan, we would encourage them to contact us as soon as possible. We always strive to support customers facing financial difficulties and would only turn to a collection firm as a last resort.

BIS says: CDLs are commercial bank loans and as such the banks seek recoveries in the event someone misses regular repayments and so defaults.

The CDL may be far from a perfect solution to postgraduate funding, but it is one of the few funding options available.

If applicants think the course will further their vocational skills and career prospects, then the CDL may be a good option, but it is less so for those wishing to pursue a future in academia or any other career where a regular salary is not a safe bet.

Advice and an application pack are available if you call the information line on 0800 585 505, open Monday to Sunday, 8am to 10pm, or visit direct.gov.uk/pcdl for details.

Environmental Grants Loans

Use the links below to help find financial resources to pay for energy efficient upgrades to your facilities, to finance your business’s innovative environmental products and technologies and to support your environmentally friendly business.

Grants.gov

Search grants.gov by category to see grant applications related to energy, environmental topics, natural resources, transportation, science and technology, agriculture and disaster prevention and relief. The Partnership for Sustainable Communities grants site can also help you identify relevant grants on grants.gov.

Department of Energy Grants and Loans

The Department of Energy provides many funding opportunities. including:

Environmental Protection Agency Grants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has several grant programs, many of which are listed on this site. In addition, links to several specific programs are provided below:

National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants

Small Business Innovation Grants

A few federal programs provide grants to small firms engaged in scientific research and development (R D). The federal government’s SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs award a specific percentage of federal R D funds to qualified small businesses. SBIR/STTR programs encourage small firms to undertake scientific research that helps meet federal R D objectives, and have high potential for commercialization if successful.

Jay Z is celebrating Father’s Day by helping bail dads out of jail, and cue all the tears

If anyone is having an amazing Father’s Day today, it’s probably Jay Z. right? The rapper has just welcomed twins with wife Beyoncé. and in an effort to give back, Jay is celebrating by bailing fathers out of jail so they, too, can have the opportunity to spend this special day with their children. But this isn’t just about Father’s Day. it’s about taking a stand and tackling the injustices of the American prison system — which mostly impacts people of color.

Mr. Sean Carter penned an op-ed for Time . writing that he was inspired by the fundraising efforts of Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change. two organizations that bailed out over 100 mothers on Mother s Day. Jay Z said he will be donating to those organizations to bail out fathers on Father s Day.

Jay Z went on to explain how he plans to use this Father’s Day gesture to make a statement about America’s bail bond industry.

If you’re from neighborhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you’re unable to afford a private attorney, then you can be disappeared into our jail system simply because you can’t afford bail, Jay Z wrote. Millions of people are separated from their families for months at a time — not because they are convicted of committing a crime, but because they are accused of committing a crime.

In his essay, the rapper writes that since producing Time: The Kalief Browder Story . about a 16 year old who spent three years on Rikers Island without ever being convicted of a crime, he has become obsessed with the injustice of the profitable bail bond industry.

He said, Kalief s family was too poor to post bond when he was accused of stealing a backpack. He was sentenced to a kind of purgatory before he ever went to trial. The three years he spent in solitary confinement on Rikers ultimately created irreversible damage that lead to his death at 22.

On any given day over 400,000 people, convicted of no crime, are held in jail because they cannot afford to buy their freedom, he continued. When black and brown people are over-policed and arrested and accused of crimes at higher rates than others, and then forced to pay for their freedom before they ever see trial, big bail companies prosper.

Kalief’s story is just one of many examples of how not being able to afford bail and proper legal representation can potentially put innocent people in dangerous situations. Remember Sandra Bland? #SayHerName

Earlier this week, Jay Z became the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He quickly went on a little tweeting spree sending thank you’s to everyone who has inspired him over the years. He also shared a video message from President Obama congratulating him on the accomplishment and saying, We know what it s like not to come from much and to know people who didn t get the same breaks that we did.

It s inspiring to see Jay using his platform to support dads in need.

In closing his Time essay, Jay Z said, As a father with a growing family, it s the least I can do, but philanthropy is not a long fix, we have to get rid of these inhumane practices altogether.

We can t fix our broken criminal justice system until we take on the exploitative bail industry.

If you need a little inspiration today, you can read the rest of Jay’s powerful essay here .

General George S Patton Car Crash Accident Patton died on December 21,1945 from injuries sustained in a car accident that happened in Occupied Germany on December 9, 1945. The accident occurred one day before Patton was to return to the United States. In one account Patton was riding in a 1939 Cadillac Model 75 with his chief of staff, Major General Hobart R. Gay while being driven by PFC Horace Woodring. Patton was sitting in the back seat with Gay. At some point a 2.5 ton truck driven attempted a left-hand turn towards a side road in fornt of the Cadillac near Neckarstadt, Germany. The Cadillac crashed into the truck throwing Patton violently forward. Patton’s head hit a metal partition between the front and back seats resulting in severe injuries. Gay and the driver Woodring were unharmed. Patton was left paralyzed and died of a heart attack or embolism on December 21, 1945 at the military hospital in Heidelberg. His wife came but he wa sunable to speak to her. This is the offical version of the accident and death. There is much speculation that Patton due to his unpopular views and political potential was assassinated by either the USSR or US ( see picture of the crash and more theories below).

The official story on Patton has been challenged and there is a great deal of controversy about the facts and circumstances of his death. Most versions of the story are that the fatal accident occurred in his Cadillac staff car pictured above. In a second story it is said that Patton was uninjured after the crash, where he was transferred to a jeep, which in turn crashed in a second accident causing the injuries.

Mystery surround the crash. It is alleged that 1) The name of the driver of the truck that hit Patton’s Cadillac and the exact details were never fully disclosed. 2) Second crash? It is alleged that on the way to the hospital Patton’s vehicle was then hit again bylarge Army truck, causing much more serious injuries. Have more info? Send it to Car-Accidents.com and we will post it right here on this page.

George S Patton is buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg with Soldiers of the US Third Army. Patton’s car was repaired and displayed at the General George Patton Museum in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

10 of the world s longest bridges of various types

Facebook Twitter Email

(Travel Leisure) — If you ever find yourself in Hunan, China, rent a car and drive the Jishou-Chadong Expressway: 18 tunnels under the Wuling mountains that culminate at the Aizhai Bridge, a gut-churning 1,150-foot-high suspension bridge over the Dehang Canyon.

It’s a man-made wonder, the world’s highest (and maybe even scariest) tunnel-to-tunnel bridge — and yet it ranks only 15th among the world’s longest suspension bridges.

For the thrill of seeing No. 1, you’d need to head to Kobe, Japan, and marvel at the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge. But in the race to build the biggest and baddest bridges of them all, record-hungry China tends to dominate in hard stats.

A timelapse produced by the Indiana DOT captures the record-breaking bridge slide of the Milton-Madison Bridge.

Five out of the top 10 suspension bridges are there, for instance. So instead of a China-heavy list of bridges, we’ve focused on a variety of categories, from covered bridges to pontoon floaters, to bring you a diverse cross section of the longest.

From the ice roads of Arctic Alaska to a cable-stayed controversy on the other side of the Bering Strait — stretching over cities, seas and even the jungle canopy — the world’s longest bridges exist on a scale that can only be described as stupefying. Be sure to gas up before you take them on.

1. Longest suspension bridge span

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Kobe, Japan

Length: 6,532 feet

Before this steel behemoth bridged the Akashi Strait that separates Kobe from Iwaya, severe storms in the area would routinely sink ferries. Not that the world’s longest suspension bridge has it any easier: every day, 23,000 cars pass over a structure that must withstand earthquakes (a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit in 1995), consistently strong tidal currents (9 knots), and wind gusts up to 179 mph.

Completed in 1998, the record-setting central span 213 feet above the sea makes up over half its total 12,831-foot length; by comparison, the Golden Gate’s central span is only 4,200 feet. For an up-close-and-personal (and gut-dropping) view, bridge tours take visitors to the top of one of the towers. jb-honshi.co.jp

2. Longest inhabited bridge

Krämerbrücke, Erfurt, Germany

Length: 259 feet

Like the Old London Bridge before it and Italy’s Ponte Vecchio, the fairy tale-like Krämerbrücke, or Merchant’s Bridge, is a bit of European history preserved in the modern day. After a series of fires destroyed previous attempts to build a span over the Breitstrom River in the 12th and 13th centuries, a stone arch bridge was built in 1325.

Eventually, 62 half-timbered houses were added on top, 32 of which survived till today and continue to be home to shopkeepers and artisans. This multipurpose bridge has likely inspired more contemporary versions, like Zaha Hadid’s 919-foot-long Bridge Pavilion in Zaragoza, Spain. erfurt-tourismus.de

3. Longest bridge over water (continuous)

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Louisiana

Length: 23.87 miles

Due to recent feats of Chinese engineering, the four-lane, 5,189-pile concrete trestle bridge north of New Orleans got demoted by Guinness World Records for world’s longest bridge over water. But the change did not come without controversy, with many Pontchartrain loyalists arguing that the new winner, a 25.84-mile elevated highway-bridge-tunnel project near Qingdao, China, actually has only 16.1 miles that span the sea compared to 23.79 miles of Pontchartrain’s that are over open water.

Guinness compromised by bestowing a new title upon the 58-year-old causeway: Longest Bridge Over Water (Continuous). However you rank it, it’s still a pulse-quickening half-hour drive. thecauseway.us

4. Longest canopy walkway

Taman Negara Canopy Walkway, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Length: 1,509 feet

Deep in the heart of the Malaysian jungle, the Taman Negara Canopy Walkway provides visitors with unparalleled views and no shortage of thrills. For a mere $1.50, adventurers can channel their inner macaque (and probably see one, too) while traversing more than a quarter mile of narrow bridges strewn between centuries-old trees, offering up-close-and-vertigo-inducing views of local flora and fauna — 160 feet above the jungle floor. taman-negara.com

5. Longest floating bridge

Evergreen Point Bridge, Seattle

Length: 7,580 feet

Officially known as Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge (the Washington statesman who oversaw its creation in the early 1960s), this section of State Route 520 connects Seattle to its eastern suburbs via a roadway that floats atop Lake Washington on 33 football field-size pontoons.

The design was chosen due to the lake’s unstable bed and the curved nature of the roadway (a common problem for the area, which would explain why the state is home to four of the five largest floating bridges in the world). The aging structure is currently being replaced by a larger, even longer, more modern floating bridge that can even accommodate a light-rail system. wsdot.wa.gov

6. Longest masonry arch bridge span

Pont de la Libération, Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France

Length: 315 feet

Though arch bridges are still popular today, they’re usually built with modern materials like steel (see: Chongqing, China’s Chaotianmen Bridge, at 5,712 feet the longest arch bridge span, period). Which is a shame, considering some masonry arch bridges (brick and/or stone) are so mathematically precise, not to mention beautiful, they could stand without mortar.

More than 100 years old and spanning the Lot River in southwestern France, the Pont de la Libération is made of brick and unreinforced concrete — technically very small stones and mortar. If it’s anything like its distant cousin the Pont du Gard aqueduct, it will stand for hundreds more. Take note, China bridge barons.

7. Longest covered bridge

The Hartland Bridge, New Brunswick, Canada

Length: 1,283 feet

The bridges of Madison County have nothing on this 112-year-old National Historic Site of Canada, which became the world’s longest covered bridge only after two spans were destroyed by river ice in 1920, prompting replacement and a roof (covering helps prevent rot on the central wooden trusses).

Built as a private bridge by a coalition of residents desperately in need of a direct way across the Saint John River — 3 cents for a pedestrian; 6 cents for a horse and wagon — it’s now a regional icon open to all, beloved enough to get its own Google Doodle. town.hartland.nb.ca

8. Longest rail bridge

Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, China

Length: 102.4 miles

Connecting Shanghai to Nanjing along the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, this elevated viaduct was named the world’s longest bridge — period — by Guinness World Records when it opened in 2011. (Also on the railway, the 70.6-mile Tianjin Grand Bridge, which connects Langfang to Qingxian, is the world’s second longest.)

Running parallel to the Yangtze River past lowland rice paddies, most of the span acts as an elevated railway, similar to the El in Chicago, though a 5.6-mile section does act like a traditional bridge, crossing the Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou.

9. Longest ice bridge

Beaufort Sea Road, Alaska

Length: 68 miles

Time, fortitude and frigid cold are the only tools needed to build an ice bridge. Made popular by the hit reality TV series Ice Road Truckers, many of these cold-temperature roadways traverse a snowy mix of land and frozen lakes. But this span over the Beaufort Sea to Alaska’s northernmost oil fields is pure Arctic ice. One of the most dangerous (and unique) bridges on this list, it is also one of the only ways to service the ExxonMobil hub of Point Thomson.

10. Longest natural bridge span

The Fairy Bridge, Guangxi, China

Length: 400 feet

Though bridges are one of the greatest examples of human engineering, they are hardly a creation unique to man: rock archways hewn by Mother Nature (usually by erosion) likely provided inspiration for our brick-and-steel masterworks.

And wouldn’t you know it, even in this category of bridges, China still dominates. The country is home to three of the longest natural bridge spans in the world, including the 400-foot stunner over the Buliu River near the border of Vietnam. Carved out of a limestone karst, the Fairy Bridge (Xianren Qiao) is an isolated structure accessible only by a three-hour rafting trip. naturalarches.org

Home

A payday loan is a short-term, unsecured loan that you receive from a business (typically a loan store), rather than a bank. It is called a payday loan because the money is generally meant to help you make it to your next payday. It is an effective way to obtain needed cash if you are unable to secure extra credit through other methods. Payday loans are also sometimes referred to as cash advances, since they are expected back when you are paid from your place of employment. Loans can be given in multiple forms such as cash, or deposited directly into the borrower s account.

Generally, interest is applied to the loan that is expected to be paid back at the time of repayment. The interest can range greatly depending on the institution, and what part of the world the person resides in. Some payday lending institutions perform a credit check and/or employment verification. These measures are taken in order to ensure that the borrower will be able to repay the loan.

In the traditional model of payday loans the lender expects that the borrower will repay their loan (plus interest) in full on their next payday. Payment is possible through numerous methods the borrowers account may be debited, they can provide the lender with a postdated cheque, or they can pay in cash. If they are unable to pay and the funds are not in their bank account, this will result in bounced fee which can sometimes be negotiated.

Conveniently enough, payday loans are also available online. This process involves completing an online loan application form. In this case, the funds would be directly deposited into the borrower s account, and then electronically withdrawn on the next payday (expected repayment date).

Payday loans are becoming increasingly popular, making it so important to know the elements that characterize a good payday loan. If you are considering taking out a payday loan here are the things to consider when you are looking for the best online payday loans.

The internet can be a bit of a scary place. When you are looking for the best online payday loans it is important to ensure the credibility of the site you are considering borrowing from. Take a look at reviews online are borrowers generally satisfied with their loans? Is the lender a well known institution? If anyone reports having issues obtaining their money, or complains of misuse of the personal information they provided, it is probably safe to assume that looking for a different lender would be in your best interest.

Low Interest Rate

Check out the cost of the loan. There are many different institutions offering payday loans out there, some with better deals and interest rates than others. Why would you accept a loan for 40%, when you could have one for 20%? As well, some lenders advertise different deals and specials, particularly if you are a first time borrower example, first 100 dollar free. Take a look at what is available to ensure that you find the online payday loan that makes the most financial sense / the most reasonable rate.

Consider whether the site is easy to use, and whether all the information you need is accessible. As well, take note of how much personal information they are requiring and if their process seems simple, or unnecessarily complicated.

Instant / Fast Approval

Some lenders advertise either instant or fast approval. Sometimes this can be quite beneficial if you want to obtain the money as soon as possible. If there is no lengthy approval process, this just makes everything a bit smoother.

Customer Service

When you are checking the reviews of the payday lender for credibility, take note if there was any mention of customer service. If there are complaints about lack of availability of people to speak in case of an issue, this might be a bit of a red flag. Plus, great customer service is hard to beat.

As you can tell, there is a lot of information that is important to know when you considering taking out a payday loan! But once you are informed it is so much easier to assess and find the best online payday loans available and most importantly, the one that works for you!

U.S. Department of Education Consolidation: Making Repayment Easy

Not only is college education not cheap, but it has become even more expensive in recent times. Taking out a federal or private loan for the sake of a college education is an expensive and important decision, especially because the majority of students spend a major part of their lives after college paying off their loans. In most cases, students take out more than one loan and pay for them separately. Each loan has its own interest rate, which be very draining for a fresh-out-of-college individual, which is why it is always good to consider the option of U.S. Department of Education Consolidation. Consolidation simplifies loan repayment by integrating numerous payments into one amount and by significantly lowering interest rates and extending the repayment period to almost 30 years. However, remember that federal loans can only be consolidated with their own kind; private loans cannot be consolidated with federal loans.

Pros and Cons of Consolidation

Here are a few things to take into account if you are considering consolidating all of your college loans:

Consolidation could result in the borrower losing any special benefits that he/she might receive from the lender. Most original loans lose their interest rate discounts, principal rebates, or loan cancellation benefits upon consolidation.

Once your federal loans have been pooled into a Direct Consolidation Loan, they cannot be deferred. Therefore, take the time to carefully study the pros and cons of consolidation before choosing it as an option.

Students contemplating consolidating their loans cannot do so with a PLUS loan. The parent or guardian who took out the loan must be the one to repay it.

Eligibility Criteria for Direct Consolidation

If you want to consolidate the loans you received from the U.S. Department of Education, here is what you need to remember:

If you have defaulted on a loan, then you need to first make satisfactory repayment arrangements on that particular loan or agree to repay the new Direct Consolidation Loan under the Income-Contingent or Income-Based Repayment Plan.

Loans which are already consolidated cannot be included in an additional Direct Loan or FFEL program consolidation.

The coverage of the Scheme is extended to all new and existing Micro and Small Enterprises (both in the Manufacturing Sector as well as in the Service Sector) as defined under MSMED Act, 2006.

LIMIT:

The eligible loan limit under the Scheme is Rs.100 lacs. A borrower, who has availed certain credit facilities secured by collaterals and/or third party guarantees and is sanctioned distinct/separate credit facility without collateral security/third party guarantee, can be covered under CGTMSE scheme.

SECURITY:

“Primary security” in respect of a credit facility shall mean the assets created out

of the credit facility so extended and/or existing unencumbered assets which are directly associated with the project or business for which the credit facility has been extended. This means if a borrower is sanctioned working capital facility only, a charge can be created on the fixed assets of the unit even though the same are not financed by the Bank and the same will not be treated as collateral security. Similarly in case of sanction of Term/Demand loan on standalone basis, charge taken on current assets will not be treated as collateral security.

MARGIN:

The credit guarantee cover is available up to 75% of the amount in default in respect of credit facilities up to Rs. 50/- lacs extended by the Lending Institution to an eligible borrower subject to maximum guarantee cover of Rs. 37.50 lacs and 50% for the facilities over Rs. 50/- lacs and up to a limit of Rs. 100/-, i.e. maximum of Rs. 62.50 lacs. In case of following categories of borrowers, guarantee cover is available up to 80% of the amount in default. a) Loans to Micro enterprises up to Rs. 5 lacs (85%). b) Loans to Micro and Small enterprises operated and/ or owned by women. c) All loans in North East Region including the State of Sikkim.

Welcome!

Once again, we ve been nominated for the Best of L.I .Contest. To vote for us in this year s contest, please use the following link https://bestof.longislandpress.com/voting-open/

Scroll down to the Health Wellness Category, then click Audiologist category, select H.E.A.R.S. Audiology, P.C. Smithtown, then enter your email, create a password, confirm it and click VOTE. – THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

At H.E.A.R.S. Audiology, our goal is to identify auditory difficulties as early as possible in order to facilitate prompt and effective management. We provide audiological services to individuals of all ages and cultures, specializing in pediatrics, Auditory Processing Disorders, and hearing aid consultation and fitting. We also offer custom swim plugs, ear monitors, and Hearing Protection Devices. Additionally, we offer audiological services for senior residences and extended care facilities; seminars and workshops geared toward educating the hearing-impaired consumer and their families, school personnel, nursing facilities, or businesses; and consultative services for physicians and educational institutions. We are customer-service oriented and hold our clients in the highest regard.

Centrally located on Route 347 (Smithtown Bypass) in Smithtown, New York, H.E.A.R.S. Audiology conveniently serves the hearing healthcare needs for Long Island! Everyone is welcome and no one is ever rushed out the door! Contact us and let one of our friendly staff members schedule your appointment today!

One of the most commonly unaddressed health conditions in America today, hearing loss affects more than 31.5 million Americans most of whom are below retirement age. READ MORE.

STOP PRETENDING, START HEARING

Hearing loss is a growing medical condition that needs your attention. It is important to discuss with your physician the symptoms of your hearing loss and its impact on your lifestyle. Click here to find some questions to help you decide if a hearing evaluation is needed. Be honest with yourself, this is about your hearing!

Economic Crime Investigation Bachelor’s Degree Programs

While there are few bachelor’s degrees in economic crime investigation, you can also earn a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Accounting. In this program, you’ll learn how to work as an accountant before taking courses on economic crime, misappropriation of funds, fraud and embezzlement. Read on to learn about the job outlook in the forensic accounting field, and check the licensure requirements. Schools offering Law Enforcement degrees can also be found in these popular choices.

Can I Earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Economic Crime Investigation?

Degrees in economic crime investigation are available, however, many more schools offer a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Accounting degree program. You can earn your degree online, but conventional campus-based programs are far more common. Conventional programs also provide you with the opportunity to acquire accounting experience by completing an internship.

What Will I Learn?

As a bachelor’s degree-seeking student, you’ll take courses that are foundational to accounting, such as those covering spreadsheets, economics, statistics and taxation. Intermediate-level courses will teach you about managerial accounting, marketing, finance, auditing and cost management. Once you start learning about the investigation of economic crime, you’ll take courses that explore:

Business law

Internal cost controls

Fraud investigation

Corporate governance

Quantitative analysis

Professional ethics

Criminal law

Microeconomics

How Can I Use a Forensic Accounting Degree?

In the workforce, you’ll use the skills acquired during college instruction to investigate fraud, financial misappropriations, professional negligence and theft. You’ll also be called upon to evaluate or develop risk management and cost control strategies. As a forensic accountant, you’ll be in frequent contact with police investigators and attorneys during situations that require legal action.

Why Should I Earn This Degree?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that demand for all accountants and auditors will increase by 11% between 2014 and 2024 (www.bls.gov ). Much of this growth is attributed to the increasing complexity of business and financial laws along with an increased awareness of economic crime.

As a forensic accounting graduate, you can also meet the increasing demand for specialists with in-depth knowledge of auditing controls, risk management and financial reporting. You can also apply your skills in support of civil litigation or criminal investigations.

Will I Need a License or Certification After Earning My Degree?

Whether or not you’ll need a license depends upon what you plan to do with your degree. For example, you’ll need to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) if you plan on offering your services to the public or filing reports with the Securities and Exchanges Commission.

Other certifications are specifically designed to verify your level of expertise in a specific sub-discipline of accounting. If you’re looking for a career in economic crime investigation, you can earn the Certified Forensic Accountant (Cr.FA) and Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) credentials. Once you have two years of work experience as an internal auditor, you can earn your Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designation from the Institute of Internal Auditors.

What a Tool – Option Volatility Charts

Volatility charts can help explain option premium pricing

Jun 9, 2011, 5:50 am EDT | By Tyler Craig. Tales of a Technician

Despite the fact that option values are influenced by a number of set variables like strike price, stock price, and time to expiration, in the end they re driven by supply and demand just like any other asset. Implied volatility is a useful metric that gives options trading investors the ability to gauge the supply/demand status of an option. If demand outstrips supply, implied volatility will rise. If supply outstrips demand, implied volatility will fall.

You may notice the term price could be interchanged with implied volatility in the prior two statements. Rather than being a mere coincidence, this speaks to the direct relationship between an option s price and implied volatility. Namely, when all variables are held constant (stock price, time to expiry, etc.), a rise in an option s price will result in a rise in implied volatility.

Traders use implied volatility to gauge whether an option is cheap or expensive. The phrase buy low, sell high is applicable here. Over time it is preferable to buy options when implied volatility is low while selling them when implied volatility is high. This is where volatility charts come in. They allow traders to make quicker, more informed decisions on whether options are cheap or expensive based on current volatility levels.

Many option chains include a column which displays the current implied volatility of each individual option contract. While this provides a quick snapshot of where volatility is right here right now, it fails to show how volatility has evolved over time. A much more effective approach is using a volatility chart. The implied volatility of most major indexes can be viewed directly in any charting software provided you know the ticker symbol. I ve included some examples below listing the index or exchange-traded fund with corresponding volatility chart symbols:

S P 500 Index Options (CBOE: SPX ) $VIX

NASDAQ 100 (NASDAQ: NDX ) $VXN

Russell 2000 (CBOE: RUT ) $RVX

SPDR Gold Trus t (NYSE: GLD ) $GVZ

United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO ) $OVX

Individual stocks and ETFs lacking their own volatility index charts like those above can be viewed elsewhere. These charts are often included in the suite of tools offered by option brokers such as ThinkorSwim and OptionsXpress. They can also be found at websites like the International Securities Exchange and IVolatility .

Of the free volatility charts available, those offered at the IVolatility website seem to have become the most popular. This is likely due in part to their clean and easy to read look. In the volatility chart below of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) you can see the typical default view for most of these charts. Both the implied volatility (the gold line) and historical volatility (the blue line) are included.

A key property of volatility s behavior is mean reversion. Unlike a stock which can theoretically trend higher indefinitely, volatility tends to oscillate around some type of mean value. This is why it s reasonable to expect volatility to fall after rising too high or rise after falling too low.

While there are a variety of nuances about the behavior of volatility that require time and experience to understand, the volatility chart is an essential tool that even the novice can use to better understand the basics of volatility analysis.

Get a monthly payment estimate with Google’s mortgage calculator

Matt Elliott/CNET

Buying a house is one of the more anxiety-producing processes you’ll undertake. Finding the right house can take time as can the process of agreeing on a contract. And then there’s the small detail of figuring out how much you can afford to spend on what is likely the largest purchase you’ll ever make.

When we bought our house, my wife and I spent a lot of time researching our monthly expenses and income in an effort to figure out how much we could comfortably afford to spend on a monthly mortgage payment. We used a random selection of financial sites whenever we wanted to use a mortgage calculator to run the numbers.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

Google recently added a mortgage calculator to its bag of search tools, saving you the step of heading to a separate site to get an estimate. Just Google “mortgage calculator” and a mortgage calculator box shows up at the top of the search results, below the paid ads. You can enter your loan amount, interest rate and length of the loan to get an estimate your monthly mortgage payment.

Keep in mind that the figure Google spits out is simply the principal and interest payment, which does not include escrow payments you make each month for property taxes and homeowners insurance. To include those two sizable monthly payments in your estimates, you will need to use a mortgage calculator other than Google’s rudimentary tool.

For more leisurely pursuits than home buying, you can use Google to flip a coin or roll dice .

Welcome to M’s Beauty Therapy

Please note price increase in 2017

Welcome to M s Beauty Therapy, home of professional beauty treatments holistic therapy s in the heart of the Burbage village established since 2006. Over the last 11 years we have gained an impressive reputation for our friendly and high quality service we like to offer to all our lovely clients.

Come and visit our luxurious salon indulge in our fabulous treatments, ranging from Dermalogica Facials, ST Tropez spray tanning,Opi manicures, pedicures, waxing, massage, hopie ear candles, hot stone therapy and much much more. We also cater for all you busy ladies out there with our late night appointments .

Here at M s we also offer something that little bit different for all your girly friends with an M s pampering evening. Get all your girly friends together have a girly night out by enjoying an evening meal a pampering treatment for groups of 2 – 27 people from 33.50 per person which includes a mini treatment and evening meal.

For the ultimate pampering experience book a Luxury Pamper for groups of 2-15 ladies, all for just 55.00 per person indulge in an hour s treatment including a full Body massage, full manicure, full pedicure an M s time out facial.

Come and enjoy a delightful luncheon pamper experience at M s with all your girls from Monday to Sunday from 10am perfect for groups of 2-24 ladies and all for only 29.50 per person.

M s time Out Treat

Come enjoy tea, coffee, cake a time out treatment. Choose from a back massage, perfect polish to hands or feet, M’s mini facial or a selection of waxing. For small groups of ladies, minimum of 2, starting from 10am all the way through to late afternoon for only 20.00 per person.

My single expiring option for May finished in the money, so I decided to roll it out to July before taking the assignment.

While IWM was trading at $136.43, I bought to close one IWM May $138 naked put and sold one IWM July $138 naked put and received $283.60 after paying $2.20 in commission for the two legs of the calendar spread. IWM ended up closing at $136.00 on the day and which meant I did a little better than I would ve if I had waited until the very last second of the trading day.

I posted my video of the trade here :

For the first time in the 10 years that I ve been writing My Trader s Journal, I made a trade on Analog Devices ($ADI). While ADI was trading at $80.60, I sold one ADI July $80 naked put for $3.40 and received $339.75. I think the downside risk to ADI is no lower than $75 and probably not that low.

I detailed my trades in this YouTube video posted here :

Volatility is so low right now that it s barely worth selling options. The NASDAQ Composite hit a record high again and I opted to sell a ratio spread on QQQ with the belief that QQQ will move slightly lower before expiration in August. If I m wrong and QQQ climbs further, I still make a few bucks since I received a tiny credit for this ratio spread. If I m right and QQQ ends exactly at $133 at expiration, I ll gain more than $1,200.

While QQQ was trading at $138.26, I bought two QQQ August $139 puts and sold four QQQ August $133 puts to pay for the long puts. I received $8.33 after paying $3.67 in commission.

You can see my commentary here along with my QQQ chart QQQ Ratio Spread

My account had another month of gains, but I was still far under-invested and missed out on what could ve been more. Maybe I ll get off the sidelines a little more on the next dip. I missed a good opportunity while the VIX moved higher a couple of weeks ago, but keep waiting for a bigger drop.

I ended April with a Net Liquidation Value (NLV) of $100,970.02 and a Net Asset Value (NAV) of $100,996.36 according to Interactive Brokers (IB) after finishing March with an NLV of $100,480.73. I had a gain of $489.29 (

0.5%) on paper for April and no realized gains since I only sold a new naked put in April, but didn t close any positions. I received no in dividends in April since I m still not long shares of anything yet. Quicken reported that I have an account value of $100,968.88, which is the same as what IB says I have after adding in the $27.48 in accrued interest that IB is crediting me for.

I m 50.59% invested in this account, 9.74% more than the end of March and still a lot less than I should be. As I said last month, I am waiting on a correction, but will have to take some risk at

Filed under: Finance – 13 Apr 2017

While UWM was trading at $109.90, I sold one UWM July $100 naked put for $4.30 and received $429.75 after paying $0.25 in commission.

I just realized I didn t address in the video why I sold the July expiration. The nearer-term expirations didn t offer enough of a premium to make it worth the trade and the longer-term expirations had too much time risk for my goals. By using the July expiration, I was able to sell far out of the money and get a good annualized return.

Here s the link to the video for my process: https://youtu.be/0nSKnnZFTXM

Comments Off on UWM July Naked Put

The chart below shows the daily prices for the past six months on SPY, the SPDR ETF that tracks the S P 500 Index, after closing the week at $235.20, on April 7, 2017. The S P 500 has edged lower since peaking at the beginning of March, but the chart shows it hasn t rolled over yet. The two trend lines that mark SPY s higher lows converged at the intraday low on March 27, but both still maintain support from further lows. The longest trend line drawn below marks the trend of higher lows. The area between these sets of lines is called the trading channel and projects where SPY is likely to trade, until it breaks outside of either barrier.

Other technical indicators can help predict future movement too. The moving averages indicate directional patterns that help to highlight changes in sentiment. An index that falls below its moving average tends to fall further below it until a new catalyst or technical barrier influences its direction. I used the 20, 50, and 200-day moving averages in this

Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies

Achieve Your Career Goals with an Online Degree in Human Development and Family Studies

The nation’s population of older adults is growing. Family dynamics are changing with increased need for child care and family services. Social problems are affecting more and more people. Additional stress on children and adults is leading to school, work, and relationship issues. There is a strong and growing demand for professionals with the training and expertise to help improve people’s lives.

The online Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies (HD FS) degree with an option in Life Span Human Services from Penn State can help you learn how individuals change from birth to old age, how families and communities influence these processes, and how to apply this knowledge in order to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions designed to improve people’s lives.

Why a Human Development and Family Studies Degree Online at Penn State?

Education with Purpose – Pursue a degree that interests you and allows you to help make lives better along the way. Learn how to make a difference by advocating for new social policies and programs or developing new models to prevent and treat social, emotional, and behavioral problems. In addition, you can gain practical, transferable skills that will prepare you to interact with a wide variety of people throughout your career.

Flexibility – The online courses provide the flexibility and convenience to study around your schedule. Skip the lengthy commute time without sacrificing beneficial interactions with your knowledgeable, caring faculty. Learn from the experiences of your fellow classmates without leaving the comfort of your home.

Comprehensive Curriculum – You will have the opportunity to study a wide range of human services and diverse populations while gaining an understanding of human development across the life span and the influences of the family and the community on development. You can learn how people change in response to their surroundings — within families, schools, communities, and the work place. And you can explore how evidence-based interventions improve lives.

Solid Foundation – You have the option of starting the bachelor’s program immediately, or you can choose to enhance your professional credentials by achieving important milestones along the way. For example, you could earn the Undergraduate Certificate in Children, Youth, and Family Services. the Undergraduate Certificate in Adult Development and Aging Services. or the Associate in Science in Human Development and Family Studies first. The credits earned in the associate degree and these certificates may be applied toward the bachelor of science in HD FS at Penn State. Use these credentials to set yourself apart on the career ladder as you pursue your education goals.

Applied Learning – This may be an online degree, but preparing for a human services career requires experience working in the field with real people. HD FS students complete an internship at a human service organization in their community. Real world experience will help you build professional networks, establish references, and reflect on what you have learned in the classroom.

Who Should Apply?

If you are looking for a way to achieve your career goals while helping to improve the well-being and health of individuals and communities, then this degree program is for you. It is an ideal choice if you are just beginning to earn a degree in the human-service field — or if you already have academic credits or an associate degree in the field.

Career Opportunities for Graduates

The well-rounded curriculum can give you the basis you need to become a leader in human services, working in various organizations such as:

preschools, summer camps, and after school programs

marriage and family counseling centers

youth and family service organizations

elder care and services agencies

drug and alcohol treatment centers

health care facilities

nonprofit organizations

human resource departments

public relations agencies

As a graduate of the bachelor’s degree in HD FS, you could be qualified to work with children, youth, and families, as well as adults through a wide range of career paths to:

oversee treatment and interventions

plan, organize, implement, manage, and coordinate programs

supervise the operations of various centers

provide leadership for projects

work directly with children, older adults, and families

In addition, this degree is an excellent way to prepare for graduate school or advanced clinical training in the social, behavioral, and health sciences.

Online Education at Penn State

Penn State has a history of 100+ years of distance education and more than a decade of experience in online learning. We create an online learning environment that offers you the same quality education our residential students experience in a face-to-face setting. Learn more about Penn State World Campus .

The simple, free solution to Asia’s myopia epidemic

It’s not the obvious scapegoat

The epidemic of myopia amongst East Asians has triggered cultural questions about why so many young people develop vision problems.

Many have long believed that reading, studying or staring at your phone caused short-sightedness. And there’s the usual grumblings that young people spend way too much time glued to their screens.

But researchers are focusing on a different cause.

“If children get outside enough, it doesn’t matter how much they study they do. They don’t become myopic,” said Ian Morgan, researcher at Australian National University.

Researchers say kids and teens need to get sunlight during the critical years of their development while their eyeballs are still growing.

The mechanics of how sunlight protects their eyes are not clearly understood. One theory suggests that sunlight triggers the release of dopamine in the retina; another speculates that blue light from the sun protects from the condition.

The solution is simple. Have kids “spend more time outside, have less demands (from) the schools and relax a bit,” said Seang Mei Saw, professor of epidemiology at the National University of Singapore.

Negotiating outdoors time

But studying and play time are often at odds with each other.

In Asian cultures where there is heavy emphasis on education and hyper-competitiveness, forcing playtime is easier said than done.

“The problem is teachers and parents are probably not going to let kids,” said Dr. Nathan Congdon, professor at the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at the Sun Yat Sen University in China. “There’s a limit to how many hours kids can go outside.”

There have been some attempts to protect children’s eyesight.

In China, students have been mandated by its education ministry to perform daily eye exercises. Since 1963, rows of students sit at their desks and massage the pressure points around their eyes as a revolutionary-era anthem blares through the PA system.

Despite these eye exercises, rates of myopia in urban China have soared to nearly 90%, according to recent studies.

“China has among the highest rates of myopia and it’s the only country in the world that does eye exercises, so it’s probably not working all that well,” said Congdon.

Their effectiveness has been doubted by experts in China, but the exercises remain a part of the students’ daily experience.

Is it really a big deal?

Myopia may seem like a minor inconvenience. People have to deal with glasses, contact lenses and even laser eye surgery. But researchers say there are serious implications of such high rates of myopia among young people.

In Singapore, 82% of 20-year-olds are myopic. By the time these young adults hit their 60s, many of their vision problems are likely to get worse.

“They grow older and the epidemic is then in older adults,” said Saw, head of the myopia unit at the Singapore Eye Research Institute.

As people age, they can become at higher risk for severe eye disorders such as high myopia, glaucoma (optic nerve damage), cataracts (clouding of the lens) and retinal detachment. These conditions could lead to vision loss and blindness.

Students in see-through schools

To negotiate the expectations of parents and classes, researchers are experimenting ways to help students get increased exposure to sunlight.

One of the studies underway is the “bright light classroom” where the school’s walls and ceilings are made of see-through plastic that allows in light. Hundreds of students attend this unusual elementary school in Guangdong province.

Students sit in an open glasses classroom in China for their lessons.

“It’s a potential way to increase the amount of light, in hopes of preventing myopia and allow kids to continue (their) education without inconvenience for them,” Morgan said.

Researchers want to measure the rates of myopia among students in these “bright light classrooms” compared with those in traditional classes.

In one Taiwanese study, teachers locked the students out of the classroom during recess and lunch time. In that 2013 study, students boosted their time in sunlight by 80 minutes during the school day. Fewer children in that school became nearsighted compared with those from another school that didn’t follow such a policy.

Researchers hope with greater understanding of this condition, far-sighted policies could save the next generation of children’s eyesight.